Kirkland Brothers 49er Sailing

Jesse dodges a bullet

2012-02-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

This youtube went viral through the sailing world last week.
Over 11,000 hits already!

Check it out. We were in 5th/6th when it happened. Lost atleast 5 boats in the debacle, but we were able to regain composure and pull together a 10th. We are lucky Jesse was not seriously injured...carbon fiber spinnaker poles are not forgiving usually.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWBNpnkY9c4&list=UUCH2lVbRbLifZTe2eCWKqwg&index=1&feature=plcp

OCR Synopsis

2012-02-03T03:56:00.000-08:00

After a few days to gain perspective on OCR, we can analyze our racing with a little more objectivity. We ended up 12th in the 23 boat fleet, missing out on the Medal Race by 1 point! If only Jesse hadn’t of been violated by that Austrians Black Pole…(check out the youtube video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWBNpnkY9c4) The breeze for the week ranged from 6-18 knots, with a few shifty days off Biscayne mixed in with a couple steadier ones from the Ocean.

Results wise, we had 2 top 3’s, 7 in the top 10. The top 3’s are certainly a good indicator of our progression as we are gaining some comfort battling at the front end of the fleet. One of our top 3’s was in a steady 13-17knots (no feeling of being lucky in the front when the breeze is shifting only 5 degrees), with us winning the favored pin, and leading around the first windward.

A couple positives from the regatta were our starting and downwind tactics. While we are trying to refine a couple other facets of our sailing, we were pleased to solidify starting as an asset. But even the positives can improve, and starting is no different, as we believe we can even further improve it with a couple of subtle tweaks. Our downwind tactics were something we were keen to work on from Perth, and though the fleet wasn’t as big, we were much more conscience of it and felt better throughout the racing.

As always, there are a few things we need to refine. Standing out amongst other things, we will continue to work on speed, mark roundings, and simply maintaining top speed around the race track. Speed-wise, we are not far off. After a week battling with some top boats in an old style boat in all conditions, we feel fairly good about ourselves. A couple of tweaks and we’ll be there! Mark roundings are something we can constantly practice. They are incredibly important, and becoming proficient at them could be a valuable addition to the quiver. Thirdly, maintaining top speed throughout the race has always been at the top of the list. Encompassing mark roundings with the other maneuvers, it is one of the paramount goals of each race (sounds much easier than doing!).

So, overall we felt like our performance and ability was worthy of a higher finish, but we can’t let it faze us. Ultimately, this is all a part of our road to the Worlds and hopefully the Olympics this summer. We competed in Miami with some specific goals in mind, and felt we achieved those. Looking ahead to our training in Palma, we will continue to refine a few small things here and there. We are also excited by the prospect of getting Ramon back for Palma. His world-class vision and experience is invaluable to us during this critical push toward the top level.

Also, we CAN NOT forget to mention our new boat (BER1293)! She is heading down to Weymouth from Newcastle to have some work done on her before she piggybacks a British trailer to Palma. Gotta lionize our new girl!

Start in one of the lighter races

Locked-in Downwind

Spot the Bermuda Flag

Coach Ramon and us

Leading Around the Windward in the Final Race!

Gametime in MIAMI

2012-01-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

The Rolex Olympic Classes Regatta begins tomorrow with a more competitive field than last year’s event (4 from the top ten in the World this year). After a rejuvenating furlough at home being spoiled by our mums cooking, we returned to our winter training grounds in Miami. The sailing has been very productive, especially since the return of our coach, Ramon Oliden, this past Tuesday. We are stoked to have him with us for the event! With Ramon we have been working on the boat, getting it optimized (to Ramon’s world class eye) for the event. We have also been working on clean maneuvers around the race course under Ramon’s eye. The more confidence you get with these, the more you can get your head out of the boat and anticipate the next wind shift/pressure line.

Looking ahead to the week, we have one goal above all in our minds…RACING WELL. After squandering many great opportunities at the Worlds, we realized the need for us to shake off the rust in the fundamentals of racing (after a year and a half mostly focusing on boat handling, this can naturally happen). With our newly-found self-belief in our boat handling and speed, we have been working hard in practice to be on top of our tactics and putting together solid race-long performances. Ramon incessantly saying “head out of the boat, head out of the boat!” has certainly helped our focus (especially Jesse’s) of looking around more, focusing on the big picture.

With a promising breeze forecast for the next week, we are hopeful to put together a good championship as we are feeling ready as ever. Keep posted on the racing!

Game Day in Perth!

2011-12-11T16:48:00.000-08:00

We are starting our Olympic Country Qualifier campaign today in Freemantle! We have put in the preparation and now we need to remain poised in the tense atmosphere of the World Championships and sail to our potential. With consistent starting, smart lane management, steady boat handling and solid pace, we are looking to get steady finishes in the low teens (12-15) to put us in the hunt for qualifying for Gold Fleet (top 25). Another thing we will have to remember is that there is only one drop for the event, which will put a premium on consistency in this long series.

The wind today is forecasted to blow offshore and we are sailing on Centre Course (real close to the beach), so it could largely be a case of staying in phase and managing the variable breeze. That said, the Easterly could fade and we could be sailing in the Doctor come this afternoon. The thing fighting this will be the clouds that are currenly overhead (we even had some rain this morning. Regardless of breeze we are ready to compete and commence our campaign to qualify Bermuda for next summer's Olympics!

-Zander

Final Chapter of San Fran Training

2011-11-11T18:02:00.000-08:00

After our trip home, we headed back to San Francisco rejuvenated and refreshed for a final train before we head to Perth at the end of the month. We were joined by a few other 49ers for most of the training (2nd USA team, 2nd Canadian team, and the Mexican team). We were also able to get our training partner before his campaign-ending injury, Alex Bishop, to come out and coach us for most of the training. A big thanks to him! For the sailing, we were graced with a lighter breeze for most of the training, which we felt we needed after a month and a half of San Fran breeze!!

Alex was very helpful in refining/polishing our mechanics (especially in the light-air). After 30 some days of training in 12+ knots, our light air maneuvers definitely needed some practice! We were able to analyze every single one of our maneuvers in post-sailing video sessions. This constructive discussion led to many good resolutions with our mechanics looking more polished by the trainings conclusion.

A further positive out of the training was our dissection and testing of the rig in the 3-12 knots. We did a ton of testing with different mast bends, cap tensions, gybe shapes etc. By the end of the sailing, we felt more informed and confident in what we want from the rig in specific conditions.

So all in all, a very good tranche of training that saw us sail almost every day. We were stoked to get the practice in the light air, as we had hoped for it when planning this final trip. With our confidence in our boat handling and speed at its highest level yet, we are stoked and feel ready for Perth. After a couple weeks separated (Zan is coaching in SoCal, and Jesse is painting in Bermuda), we will reunite in the Aussie Summer at the end of Nov! We will have a couple weeks of training before the World Championships start on December 12, 2011. Keep posted!

SF final training video

2011-11-11T12:53:00.000-08:00

video from last week of training with our former training partner and now expert 49er coach!

-Zander

California Fall 2011 Training

2011-10-26T04:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNk9b-b6jr0

Gearing up for Perth.

New Record: Round De Rock, Part II!

2011-10-20T19:13:00.001-07:00

We broke our circumnavigation record by 10 mins! finishing in 3hrs 37 mins and 4 secs. It was an extremely rough sail around today, especially along the south shore, where there were big swells and a punchy 18-22kts. The breeze direction was SSE, so it meant the ever awkward beam reach for the majority of this tough leg. We left our safety boat in the dust, as we skipped over the waves, charging West. The 49er was like a bronco, frequently jumping in the air with the flying fish, with just the rudder in the water. The sensation of trapping hard and getting air is really cool and we got 15 miles of practice doing that! We had a great sail going until the approach to Whale Bay, where we had a dramatic pitchpole and flipped the boat - time at this point was 2 hrs 18 mins. The pitchpole was hard to avoid, as the waves were shoaling up as they approached the shoreline. The wipeout left us with a broken main halyard and a missing tiller extension. From there we limped into the finish in the Great Sound, with a jury rig to get her across the line. We were on track to go sub-3hrs around the island! We now know the right wind direction (or the opposite, a NNW'ly) to do it right! Just makes for a hairy sail! Its goes down as Jesse and I's most extreme sail in any boat!

Big thanks to Gareth for lending his 49er for the mission, to CELLONE and Lindos for sponsoring this event and for our safety boat drivers: Paul Doughty, Tom Evans, Malcolm Kirkland, Raymond Lambert, and Nick Hutchings. The winner of the bet was Nick Kempe, who guessed 3hrs 37 mins!

We return to San Francisco next Friday, to wrap up our training out there as we build up towards the World Championships (our first Olympic Qualifier) in Perth in December.

California Training Wrap Up

2011-10-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

Tired, sick and enjoying the spoils of rest and our Mum's cooking, we are back in Bermuda after our most productive tranche of training in the boat. The 7 weeks of sailing we did out in the Central California Coast once again lived up to the hype as the magical combination of the hot Central Valley juxtaposed to the Cold North Pacific Ocean delivered the thermal gradient which pumped in the great wind. San Francisco Bay in particular was "skiff sailing paradise" for the month of September, as windy, sunny days were on tap day after day. The majority of the top talent from around North America (USA, CAN, MEX, & ISV) showed up, which made for a great training group to gear up for the Perth Worlds. San Francisco with its famous sea breeze and challenging chop is seen as a great warm up to Perth, which is home to notorious "Doctor" sea breeze. We sailed hard and got the most hours on the water out of any of the teams for the 7 weeks we were out there. We have never felt more comfortable in the boat and look forward to measuring up against the World Championship fleet in December!

Coaching: Worth it!
We started the training out there with a 10 day boat camp with Ramon Oliden, Spanish National Team Coach (49er Olympic Medalists Iker and Xabi). We focused on the mechanics of boat handling in the big breeze found on the bay. Ramon had a great eye and was able to make subtle adjustments to Jesse and my technique which made for much more efficient maneuvering. He is such a wealth of information to bounce ideas off and it is inspiring to know exactly how the best in the world sail the boat. We also did many hours of video analyzing, comparing our clips with the Spanish team's clips. At moments, we are looking pretty good on camera and we know what to do, but now we are working on doing it consistently under pressurized situations. Practice, Practice, Practice!

North Americans: 3rd/9 boats(second North American team)!!
This was our first real result in the boat and was no doubt a testament to the hard work we have been putting in over the past 16 months (since we went full-time) and not surprisingly the help we received from Ramon. Coaching makes a big difference, that is why the vast majority of teams countries have them and it was cool to see the high correlation with us in terms of results and coaching. Imagine if we could have him 10 days a month until the Olympics! We will need to do much more fundraising to make this a reality, but believe people/companies will take notice because of how we have responded to this first stint of coaching.

The regatta itself was a great event, with the first day being very windy and the final day being lighter and more tactical. Our key was keeping it simple and staying upright on the windy day and that seemed to work pretty well, coupled with the fact that we had good speed upwind. The second day was medium breeze and put more of a premium of managing the current and the wind shifts. Tactics and wind shifts are something we are pretty confident in and with the boat handling under control in those conditions, we sailed smart enough to consolidate our 3rd place. The regatta was won by the Finnish team, who were 11th at the last World Championships and second place went to the top American team (Storck/Moore), ranked 14th in the ISAF World Cup standings. Fourth place went to the top Canadian team, who went to the previous Olympics. We were stoked to be in the mix with these top teams and gives us confidence as we head down under to Perth. Yes it was a small fleet and has to be taken for what it is, the fact that our speed was putting us among Gold Fleet sailors consistently is promising.

Santa Cruz Training: Ocean Sailing
Well it was not quite the gnarley, memory searing conditions we had last year, where it was BIG Breeze everyday, but it was still nice to get out of the Bay after 5.5 weeks of sailing at Richmond. It is amazing the difference there is when you get a swell under your feet! Boat handling, trimming and steering, all require an adjustment period to manage the change in sea state. It is especially hard trimming the main, when you want to keep the boat perfectly flat and the boat is slowly yawling around because of the swell. It is just another factor in an already complex equation and what we learned was that it is often better to try not to react to the natural roll and trust that the swell will bring the boat back to level. The other good thing we found productive in Santa Cruz was narrowing in our rig settings in the medium breeze, a condition that has historically troubled us. We experimented with some things and think we have some leads to go faster in these conditions. It was nice too, to have the fast boats there to test alongside, to give these findings some legitimacy.

We return to San Francisco on the 28th, for 2 more weeks of sailing, to get everything dialed in for Perth and our first opportunity to qualify for next summer's Olympics.

While home, we will be painting houses, attempting another Bermuda circumnavigation (if weather permits) and co-hosting a fundraising dinner for our Campaign! Busy! But a nice change from what we have been doing since late August.

-Zander

Spinnaker Pole Video!

2011-09-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

Fresh off the iVideo

Thanks to Malcolm for his creative GoPro housing unit which fit on the end of the pole! Thanks Dad!

3rd at North Americans!!

2011-09-26T10:39:00.001-07:00

Battling with Erik and Trevor

San Francisco, CA
Sept 24-25
Richmond Yacht Club

Finishes = 3,4,3,4,2,4,5 = 3rd Overall/8 boats (6 countries represented)

3rd place at the 49er North American Championships is big deal for us and is a testament to the hard work we have been putting in the boat in the last 15 months since we went full-time in an effort to qualify for next summer's Olympics. The racing was tough out in the Bay, with big breeze on Day 1 and then ripping tide to manage on day 2, to create a multitude of conditions to test North America's best 49er sailors. The regatta was actually won by the Finnish team (11th at last year's World Championships), who are here training with the North America contingent in preparation for the 2011 World Championships which are coming up in December in Freemantle, Australia. The top American team was 2nd, who are smart and fast in the boat and then we were a few points after them after the 7 race series rounded up yesterday. We were excited to be near these guys and beat the top Canadian boats. The fleet was only 8 boats, but of a high quality - top Mexican team, top Finnish team, 2 top Americans, top 2/3 Canadian teams, and the top US Virgin Island team.

Going into the event, we knew it would be windy and just wanted to keep the sailing as polished as possible. Basically, we wanted to test our boat handling, which we have been practising for the past 3 weeks out on the notoriously windy San Francisco Bay. Ramon Olideen, the coach of the defending World Champions, was very helpful to us when we had him for 10 days earlier in the month. He adjusted subtle things with our technique, which make big differences on the consistency of our boat handling. It really awakened us to how helpful coaching is at this level and really got us excited to raise more money so we could get him again. There is pretty high correlation between our best result to date and the fact that we just had one of the best coaches in the world work with us for 10 days before the event.

Back to the event, Saturday was challenging, as the tide was running against the 15-22kts of wind, which put a premium on executing the tricky boat handling maneuvers, all the while trying to avoid stuffing the bow in the steep waves. We had some good speed with the fast guys upwind and had some super clean tacks to keep us battling in the front pack. On the treacherous runs, we kept her upright, despite numerous wipe outs and pitch-poles by our competition. We had one gybe, where we hit a wave in the middle of it and it almost sent us over, as the boat loaded up without us not being clipped in; Jesse somehow saved it by steering from the water, with one hand holding the 8ft tiller extension and the other hand holding his trapeze wire, as we were being dragged off the windward wing - It was not pretty, but sometimes "gutsy athleticism" is what is needed to get the boat across the line in these big breeze conditions.

Sunday dawned with the first rain of "the California wet season", as a weak cold front crossed the Bay Area, leaving us with uncharacteristically light winds on the race course - it did build to a moderate westerly as it cleared up. We sailed on a new race course to cater to the different wind, which had more current running through it. The racing was more tactical than the previous day's speed orientated theme and made for a well rounded championship. We sailed well enough to consolidate on 3rd place for the event, but have plenty of room for improvement in the tactical and boat handling department. The biggest take-away from Sunday, was finding a rig setting in those conditions where we had good speed with the top guys. Historically, we have had our biggest speed issues in those conditions of 7-11kts, and we adjusted a few things to get up to speed with our competition. It was nice to rely on our speed to get out of tricky situations and not feel like we were always losing distance to people around us when going in a straight line. Our setting in these conditions still needs some refinements, but we like the direction it is headed.

We have 3 more weeks out here, training in the same conditions, with the same high caliber group, before we head back to Bermuda for a break and to do some more fund-raising and work. We are tentatively planning on doing another "Round de Rock" record attempt as well - we want to get below the 3 hr mark if we can get the conditions to cooperate. Let us know if you want to put up any prizes for the bets on our time around. email zankirkland@hotmail.com

NA's Day 1

2011-09-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

North Americans started today in a punchy 15-20kts+ out on the Bay, in an exposed area, just south of line between Treasure Island and Angel Island. It was ebbing for the majority of the afternoon, which made for lumpy conditions and put a premium on survival boat handling at times - excess of 20kts with nasty chop will do it. The goal for today's first day of racing was to keep it simple and keep the boat upright. We knew it would be BREEZE ON and so we just wanted to put all the boat handling practice we have done in the past 3 weeks to the test. We knew with all the technique work we did with Ramon that it was in us to do it, but to do it under race conditions is always a whole other deal.

The fleet is a tight, international fleet of 8 boats (2 USA, 2 CAN, ISV, MEX, FIN and BER). Our finishes today were 3,4,3,4. We had good speed upwind and were smart about managing about the ebb current for the most part. We also nailed some windshifts and had some nice gainers on some of the fast guys (FIN was 11th at last worlds, Team Storck/Moore is Gold Fleet, and CAN 49 is Gold Fleet and past Olympian)! We are getting closer!! The boat handling is continuing to come together, thanks to Ramon, the endless wind to practice in out here and we are nearing a critical mass of 49er sailing hours where boat handling is slowly becoming more natural. We had some real nice tacks out there, where we carried our speed well and had a few solid gybes as well. We also had a few hairy gybes, where we just saved them thanks to a little luck and gutsy athleticism (sometimes that is good enough in a 49er when the course is littered with wiped out 49ers). We will work on these to continue to make these smoother and more in control!! The wave state really complicates matters...in our most hairy gybe, we dug the bow mid gybe and scrambled from there to keep her upright.

Goal for tomorrow is the same for today. It's most likely going to be windy again and we will need to continue to execute on the boat handling to get through the Bay's tough conditions.

PS. On our training since we have been here has been great! The breeze has been like a machine out on the Bay and the international training partners have been great to sail with. It was awesome to have Ramon out here in the early part of this SF training to get our new boat sorted and to get our boat handling mechanics in order. Coaching does make a difference - especially when he is coach of the defending world champions! He had a great eye and could see very subtle things, which make a big difference. The whole time we had Ramon, both of us couldn't stop thinking how great this was and if only we could regularly get this type of support!! Please talk to us if you are interested in making Ramon a reality for more than 10 days a year. Even Ramon mentioned it, "imagine if I had 10 days a month with you guys..." We also have to thank our Dad for coming out and filming/analyzing us for the past week. He has been very helpful on the water and is also an added dynamic in the post-sailing time to keep the chemistry fresh for Jesse and I. THANKS DAD! Hope we get you back on the campaign trail in the future. Plus he makes good burgers and gets us in the HOV lane!

Training with Ramon

2011-09-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

Here is short clip we put together of some of the training we have done out on the Bay. The footage is split between the GoBro and our coach, Ramon.

Video of the actual Start

2011-08-08T18:15:00.001-07:00

Thanks Scott Stallard for this great footage at the start!

Video of 1st attempted start of circumnavigation

2011-08-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

We had a camera on the end of the boom and it filmed our first start, where we broke our spinnaker tack line, right as we started...We then turned it off, while we jury rigged the spinnaker pole. However, in a rush and dealing with the breeze, we forgot to turn it back after we resolved the problem and went on the blast "round de rock." frustrating, but you still get a taste.
-Zander

WE MADE IT Round!

2011-08-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

Exhausting blast around Bermuda! No time to break, just a moment under the lee of St. David's Head to drink some water as we got ready for the mission up the South Shore. We blasted off the starting line at Spanish Point and cruised down the North Shore with great pace, thanks to the breezy conditions and the relatively flat water. We made it to St. David's Head in 45 minutes from Spanish Point. The South Shore was a brutal 15 mile upwind leg, as jumped swells with the flying fish. We came inside the reef at Elbow Beach and did a close 'fly by' for the beach goers. Once we got to Sonesta, we were able to speed up as we bore away from the breeze. In no time we were ripping across Whale Bay and into the West End. By the end, the breeze had built some and we were just trying to hold it together. We were both really tired, but just remained focused on finishing. It was freaky sailing over the reefs of the West End at such high speeds, it would not have been possible at a lower tide.

Special thanks to all our supporters who guessed our circumnavigation time. Winner was St. David's Islander, Duncan Frith. We finished in 3hrs 47 mins and 10 Secs, he was only 10 secs off with his guess of 3hr 47 mins! Also many thanks to our escorts around the Island. Spanish Point - Ft. St. Catherine (Jonny Kempe and Andrew Masters), Fort St. Catherines - Tuckerstown (Mark Soares), Tuckerstown - Sonesta (Barry Bridges and Malcolm Kirkland) and the last leg Sonesta to Spanish Point (Alan Burland and Raymond Lambert).

We think was a great event and want to improve on our time! It was a great way for us to showcase the speeds that this boat can achieve. The 49er is the fastest Olympic Sailboat and is one of the main focal points for media coverage on the ISAF World Cup Tour. Just imagine a whole fleet of these boats racing and you can understand racing these boats on the World Stage!

Round 'De Rock'

2011-08-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

How long will it take them?

The Kirkland Brothers, in a bid to raise public awareness of their Olympic dreams and help fund raise their sailing campaign, are set to sail around Bermuda this week. They envisage it being a two-fold challenge, one for themselves to sail the “bronco” around the 36-mile circumference of the island in good time and lastly, for the public to try and estimate their circumnavigation time. Neither of them is an easy task, for the sailing is going to be draining over that type of a distance and the rubric to figure out their time is equally daunting because of the abundance of variables in a sailboat speed run.

$10 buy-in to get your estimate on the books. The winner will be receiving gift vouchers to AS Coopers, Butterfield and Vallis and the Olympic Club. The cash pool raised goes to support their run-up to next summer’s Olympics in London. Their six figure budget over the next year is dominated by world-class coaching expenses as they attack the important nuances of sailing the boat. Call 236-0383 to log your bet or drop it by Mailboxes in town. You can do it electronically by emailing zankirkland@hotmail.com and then paying by bank transfer, with the time in the memo. This is another example (Roy Allen’s “Dash for Cash”) of ‘cash strapped’ BOA Elite athletes getting imaginative to raise money for their Olympic aspirations.

Hints for everyone to base their estimate around. Their clockwise circumnavigation attempt will start and finish at Hogfish Beacon off Spanish Point. The highest speeds (in excess of 20 kts) of the trip, should be on the North Shore, where they will have their giant spinnaker up and minimal big waves to slow them down. Their speed will drop when they attack the wind on the South Shore and also have to manage the swell outside the reefs. Total distance around is estimated to be just over 36 nautical miles.

Stay up-to-date (for exact start time) electronically by following the campaign’s Facebook page “Kirkland Brothers 49er Sailing”. Also they will try and get airtime on the local radio stations to keep everyone abreast of their progress around. Tenative start-time is 11am this coming Thursday, starting time from Hogfish. They will have a GPS onboard to record the actual distance sailed and the top speed of the sail.

With the wind out of the South-West, the South Shore will be a great place to view the boat jumping in the waves. They are planning on coming inside the reef near Elbow Beach for a fly-by. Other good places to view the Brothers in action would be: Crawl Hill, Ferry Reach, Fort St. Catherines, St. David’s Head, Spittal Pond, Horshoe Bay, Church Bay, Whale Bay, Somerset Long Bay, and Commissioner’s House as they head for the finish!

They welcome any other challengers with a sail to take them on and are interested to hear about any past performances. Windsurfers currently hold the outright speed record for the circumnavigation by a sailing craft, but they want to have the fastest sailboat time on the books.

The Brothers are home for two more weeks to fundraise (by this event and painting houses) and then are off to California for the Fall to compete in the Pacific Coast Championships and the North American Championships. They will be racing with top North American and European sailors as everyone preps for the 2011 World Championships, which are this December in Perth, Australia.

Euro trip # 2 - Reflection

2011-07-16T03:34:00.000-07:00

Reflecting into the Scandinavian midnight twilight on the Ferry to Stockholm

Waiting for our flight home at Gatwick, after a very productive trip to Northern Europe over the course of the last 2 months, we feel excited about our sailing and where it is going. The trip has been our best foray to Europe yet, with a 25th place at the Grade 1 Delta Lloyd Event and consistent good moments at the ultra competitive Sail for Gold and the European regattas. We were also blessed with great wind for most of these events and were really able to up our comfort level in racing these boats at high speeds. The other major positive aspect of this trip, has been our increased knowledge of how to manage the rig settings, largely through talking with our faster friends and figuring out things by trial/error.

A full year into sailing this boat full-time and we are miles ahead of where we were last year. Hopefully we can continue this trend. We seem to be doing a lot of the hard things well (starting, lane management off the line, and boat handling) and when we can polish up the rest of our game and fire on all cylinders, we are going to be pleased with our results.

Even through this trip, we noticed better boat handling and speed in breeze, thanks to 20 days of sailing (majority under race conditions) in this trip where it was windy. This meant tens of mark roundings, bear-aways, starts and the ability to tweak our rig settings. Over 18kts, we are pretty happy with rig and have found that we have good speed with the fleet (in the windiest race of Sail For Gold, we rounded the 1st weather mark in 7th). Our breeze competency also was enhanced by our “boat-handling week” in Weymouth before going to Finland. We did tons of tacks, gybes and mark roundings at the Olympic venue. It is never easy training by yourself, but we made the most of it and felt the results in Finland.

We are excited to be heading to Santa Cruz and San Francisco in early August to continue our breeze practice because we really want to make a point of being competent BREEZE sailors in the class. There very few venues in the world, which are better to focus on windy 49er sailing than Coastal Central California and we will have an international crew (FIN, CAN, USA, MEX, DEN and maybe GBR) of training partners to sail with. We will continue to focus on sharpening our boat handling, dialing in our rig and learning how to push the boat more in the waves with the kite up. It is a real art for the crew to trim the kite and avoid putting the bow into the wave and causing a dramatic pitch-pole. The boat really needs a longer pole in those conditions to pull the bow up more, but there is a technique that we need to master to mitigate the constant danger of pitching it – basically trapeze really hard out and back and let the break the kite before rogue waves suck the bow in.

Also over the past 2 months, I noticed my fitness improve from all that breeze sailing. Towards the end of the trip, even after 4 races (with 3 laps each), I found I still had energy in the tank to deal with the spinnaker sets, douses and keeping the boat going top speed upwind. Of course, it can always be better and I will be working towards that, but it was refreshing to see my body adapt to all the sailing. It also shows that the gym training, which I do between events, could be pushed harder. It really seems like the best fitness training for the boat is just sailing the boat because it is such a complex blend of strength, agility and endurance. I am going to continue to focus on high rep training to work on shoulder, back and arm grip strength. Also mixed in cardio on the bike and the rowing machine. Jesse and I’s weight (154kg) is good for the boat and no real change is necessary, we just need to continue to get stronger, so we can avoid tiring and stay focused on sailing fast and smart.

Come to RBYC at 6pm on Thursday, July 21st to see us present our current state of the campaign! We feel we are at an exciting stage and want to share that with everyone.

- Zander

Euros - Helsinki

2011-07-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

Front Row, race 4

Front Row, race 2

FLAT and FAST!!!

We have had three days of racing in progressively better conditions each day, with the highlight being today’s fresh 13-16knots- though there was a nasty short chop. The first day was in a really soft and fluky 3-6 knots, and yesterday was a solid 7-12 knots. After nine races, we are lying in 47th place, but only 20ish points out of a mid fleet. The conditions have been really shifty with the course tucked up right under the shore of Helsinki leaving the fleet very close. With half our races still to come, we have the room to make a good jump up the leaderboard.

The course that we were put on for our races has been very difficult and unpredictable leaving the tactics and strategy that much more tricky. However, one thing that we can pride ourselves on for most of this event is our starting. We have had some really good starts in the middle of the line allowing us to be a little more conservative with the oscillating breeze. Our downwind speed and tactics, and leeward mark rounding’s are constantly improving as our boat handling and confidence improves. Another big part of the racing so far has been to manage the risk/reward trade-off. Since it is such a shifty venue with massive pressure differences throughout the course, understanding when to take the risk and leverage out on the fleet is critical.

We had been making gains with our rig in our most problematic area(essentially what we have raced in), though on the second day we really lacked speed. Today saw a much better look in our speed, and we look to continue that into tomorrow and beyond. So, the frustration and annoyance at our speed in the 7-14 knots is still present, though addressing our biggest weaknesses now only make us stronger down the road.

With three days of sailing left, there is still much to fight for in this event. We hope to continue our good starting and rig settings to put together some results. We are getting close!

-Jesse

Training in Weymouth

2011-07-01T13:18:00.001-07:00

After 2 and half weeks of full-time sailing between the Delta Lloyd Regatta and the Sail for Gold, Zander and Jesse took a needed hiatus from the 49er. Zander headed to Ireland and scored some good surf while Jesse went to Greece and Turkey in search of that rare GBR thing of warm weather. Since we did not want to be out of the boat for more than two weeks, following our “separation”, we planned a training week in Weymouth before our departure for the Europeans in Finland.

The weather cooperated for our week, leaving us with good breeze and, surprisingly, sunshine! Training-wise, it was certainly a success as we were very productive with our time for the five days with a couple of double sessions crammed in there. Though we were sailing by ourselves, we were busy working on boat handling (never gets old in the 49er!) and testing some rig settings. For example, we did gybe set after gybe set and leeward mark rounding after leeward mark rounding; essentially trying to engrave the motions into our mind. We also did the basics, like figure 8 drill repetitively in the beginning of the session to get our mechanics down.

Rig-wise, we were testing out some settings in our most problematic condition of 8-12 knots. Thankfully the breeze for the majority of the week was this condition! You can only do so much with rig tune by yourself, but it was amazing the changes we could feel tinkering with the rig (playing with bend, cap shroud tension, primary shroud tension, etc). Hopefully this help us as we go into the ultra competitive European Champs (2nd only to the Worlds in terms of competition) and get our speed dialed in whatever conditions we get.

So, onto Finland tomorrow with a British team. The long drive of nearly 30 hrs will be segmented by two ferry rides seeing us arrive sometime Monday evening. We will no doubt need some rest after the drive! However, given our time frame, we will have plenty of time to get rested and train a couple times before the European Championship begins on Friday the 8th. Stay posted!

Sail For Gold Wrap-Up

2011-06-17T05:22:00.001-07:00

After a couple days to gain some perspective we are able to better analyze the event. We were disappointed with our overall position of 50th out of 68. We finally had found some confidence in our sailing following the Delta Lloyd Regatta, and felt prepared to put forth a great event. Unfortunately, some things happened in the racing- some our fault, others not, that saw us finish below our potential. We felt misfortune found us at every corner. For instance, the first DNF was a 6th at the first windward mark before a peculiar situation developed in a fickle 2-6 knots, and absolutely owned us.

But have faith! We remain optimistic about our chances in the 49er. We broke down all the qualifying races (before Gold and Silver split), and realized that we were in the top 15 (two top 10) in every race. Our goal remains to finish off our strong starts to the races. Seeing the points that we gave away throughout the event leaves us wondering with the what ifs…

Our speed overall is getting better. In both <7 and >18 we feel confident with our speed (Our best roundings were in both these conditions). Our problem remains in the mid-range where we just lack the wheels of the top boats. Our goal is to focus hard on this wind-range and hopefully with some advice from some friends in the fleet we can get going well.

Tactically speaking, we did not sail our best regatta, but certainly well enough to be mid fleet. This, despite the FULL-ON conditions we saw for 90% of the event (the other 10% was in 0-6 from the land in our first two races). Moving forward, our goal to refine our speed in the 8-14knots remains Number 1.

After a couple weeks off to recharge the battery will are heading up to Finland to compete in the European Championships. No doubt there will be some long days that far north!

Sail For Gold Update

2011-06-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

We have completed six races over the three days of racing in the two extremes of wind conditions(really light and extremely windy). Our first two races were raced in a light and variable offshore 2-6 knots with our final race seeing a 180 degree wind shift! Over the last two days, we have seen 18-25knots with higher gusts in some of the waviest and gnarly sailing to date. Our hands have certainly been full!

Our results are not impressive, and we feel quite bummed about them. However, beneath the scores, we have had some brilliant moments throughout the two extreme conditions. First off, our speed all around has been a positive that has us feeling quite good. Secondly, our confidence on the starting line has improved, which has not surprisingly led to us having more consistent starts. Thirdly, we have been in the top 15(two in top 10) at the first mark in all of our races.

We have said it before, but I will say it again. We are still trying to put the whole race together. Throughout the races, we have been plagued by a few mishaps between mechanical issues, tactical conundrums and some boat set-up issues. Sailing in these tough extreme conditions has definitely made it a lot more difficult. But, regardless of the dissatisfaction of the racing thus far, we are still upbeat about the final two days of racing.

So, onto Silver Fleet tomorrow. With our confidence still there, we hope to finally crank out a few good finishes with six races remaining. Keep posted as the breeze is meant to cooperate!

Best Regatta to Date!

2011-05-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

"Jesse yelling at the photo boat to get help to our American friend (in background) who badly sprained his ankle in a capsize on the leeward mark approach. Zander in the boat, getting ready to douse the kite."

We are coming off our best event to date in the 49er! The Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, Holland was an ISAF Grade 1 event and was attended by 21 countries from around the World. We were 25th out of 39 boats. We had one top 10 finish (8th) and over half the races were in the top 17. We also moved up everyday after a tough day 1. It was a windy event (3 days were blown out) where there are real consequences for mistakes. One of our Canadian friends broke their mast on the last day and our American training partner almost broke his ankle on day 2 in a capsize. We found we had good speed in the big breeze and it enabled us to focus more on the racing aspect of the game -- a breakthrough for us in these conditions. As we smooth out our boat handling work, we will hope to look at our big breeze sailing as a potent weapon in our arsenal.

The hard work and humility that we have exhibited over the last 18 months is paying off as we look to continue to work our way up the fleet. It doesn’t get any easier from here, but we are excited about the direction of our sailing. With 15 months until the London Olympics, we feel we are on track to reach the world-class standard and qualify for the Games.

Next up for us is the Sail For Gold Regatta in Weymouth, the venue for next year’s Olympics. It will be the best attended ISAF Grade 1 event on the tour because all the top sailors will be there gaining knowledge on the site. The fleet (65 boats) will be full of Olympians, World Champions and sailors hoping to qualify for London 2012.

Another Good Day!

2011-05-28T01:25:00.000-07:00

Once again the Delta Lloyd provided us with a breezy day of racing with winds ranging from 16-22kts with higher puffs. The added element of a steep chop due to a slight change in wind direction made the racing that much more challenging. When it was all over, we had posted a 8th, and two 17s. Definitely our top day in Europe to date. We are certainly pleased with our performances throughout the day, with both our 17's just one mistake away from being top 10's... And our 8th was probably our best race so far in Europe!

Our upwind speed and boathandling was good all day. Throughout the day, we were able to get the boat going well upwind seeing us in some strong positions. A definite comfort that permits us to focus on other aspects of the racing. On the boat handling note, we landing ALL of our gybes! Our tacks were solid all day except for a crash tack in the second race, second beat that saw us flip the only time in racing, and fall from 9th or so to 17... In the final race, we were looking good in 10th or so when we ran into some trouble at the leeward mark during the douse. Murphy's Law made its present known as the jibe sheet got tightly woven around Zanders leg leaving us unable to make the bear away right to windward of the gates. After spending the 20 secs freeing his leg and getting around the mark, 6 or 7 boats had ripped by us.

So all in all another positive result. Our boathandling and speed are the standout positives from the day. Hopefully we can improve on a our starting and tactics now that we have found some comfort in our speed. More breeze in the forecast!

Keep posted!

Day 2 = Better!!!

2011-05-26T02:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday has to go down as one of the best days we have put together in Europe so far. We nailed a 15th and a 16th, after starting with an average 25th in the 38 boat fleet. Many of the players in the fleet are here and any finish in the top half is very respectable. The breeze started as a weak southerly and then faded into a moderate sea breeze northerly. The key was largely nailing two good starts and then managing the tricky breeze well. The reason for our worst race (race 1 of the day) was because of a bad start. We had managed to work ourselves back into the race, but got on the wrong side of a few bizarre windshifts. In the light air, a breeze we have practiced in a lot recently, our speed was good enough for us to play the game with anyone. If not for missing a few shifts in those two light air races, we could have had better scores than we got.

In the final race, with a solid (compared to early in the day) 8-10 kts, we had a great start up at the committee boat under a black flag and found ourselves in the top pack off the line. However, we lacked the pace to hold our lane for too long, but were able to stay in the race because we hit a nice shift at the end and rounded the top mark just outside the top 15. We had a great gybe set to pull us back into the top 15, but had a bad gybe later on the run which limited our gains. Final beat we lacked the pace again, especially because the breeze had died slightly and we lost a few more boats. After the race, we were trying to figure out why we were slow and lacked the power. We did find we were fast on guys whenever the breeze built a bit. So when we got in we measured our rig settings and found our rig far too bent for that 8-10 kts...our lowers had loosened up after the first couple races without our knowing. It was a case of us putting throwing a couple turns on the lowers to straighten the rig and power her up. Live and learn, but that setting cost us finishing out of the top 5! That's what it is at this level! So at least we are really seeing what is needed for a great race at this level (good start, correct settings and smart tactics, we had 2/3 of these and hence deserved our 16th).

-Zander

ps. windy here again. all boats remind grounded to wait for weather to pass, hopefully we get out later.

Blustery Day One

2011-05-25T02:27:00.000-07:00

The first day of the Delta Lloyd event was FULL-ON. After being postponed on shore because of reported 28+ knots on our course, we were sent out when the breeze died to 20-25+kts… The Race Committee got off three races during the late afternoon session with the breeze becoming more volatile as the day went on. By the second race, the breeze ranged anywhere from 15-28 knots. Capsized boats were a common site throughout the day’s racing- lots of carnage out there!

Our results on paper do not do us justice for how we performed. There were many positives for the day despite our finishes. First off, our upwind speed was good. We were able to rip around the racetrack with above average speed all day. This is a big boost for us as we continue to gain confidence with our rig settings. Secondly, we had a good consistency with our gybe’s and tacks except for the odd one or two. This was a big plus considering the breeze strength.

The problems that led to our subpar results were due to a few different things. In the first race (arguably the windiest of the day), we flipped prior to the start and were 8 minutes late to crossing the start line. Despite getting a DNS because we crossed the start line after the time limit, we were able to catch up to the pack and finish a respectable finish. In the second race, after having a good start and first half of the beat, we found ourselves in a big righty crossing the whole fleet with the eventual 1st round the windward(top 3); however, a knock followed by a 20 degree, 28knot righty cleanbowled us (Jesse also got sent on the main and put a hole in it). We managed to get back into the race, but a missed shift/downwind speed was mediocre on the final downwind saw us lose 5 boats. In the last race, we had our one bad tack on the day seeing us fall behind early. After catching up on both the upwind and the downwind we got caught in a sticky situation at the leeward mark with a couple boats and flipped. After having issues getting it back up, we found ourselves too far behind to finish within the time limit.

So all in all, a really exhausting day of sailing. With many travails throughout the races, we see ourselves sitting below our potential. A couple critical mistakes alongside one incredibly unfortunate situation saw us blow a potentially good day. Though, our upwind speed was certainly the highlight of the day and leave us with some good feelings.

Keep posted for racing tomorrow! Look to be light before another few days of BREEZE follows.
Heres a shot of us on one of the downwinds!

Windy Holland!

2011-05-23T06:10:00.000-07:00

We are back in Europe for the second time this spring, ready to attack the heart of the European circuit (Grade 1 in Medemblik, Grade 1 in Weymouth, Euro champs in Helsinki). Right now, we are in Medemblik, Holland, as we await the start of the Delta Lloyd Regatta which starts on Tuesday. It is shaping up to be a windy event, as the North Sea is expected to have an active weather pattern for the coming week. This should make for an exciting event and we look forward to stepping up in these challenging conditions and putting some good results together.

Yesterday we had big breeze in our training session and we were able to nail some solid gybes and tacks in the ‘49er red line’ conditions (gusts over 25kts!). In the puffs while sailing off the wind, roaring with boatspeed, we would be heading directly downwind to keep the boat in control – a feat not too common for an asymmetric kite! One of the Aussie boats had a GPS on their boat and they hit 24.8 kts of boat speed out there, an unofficial record for the 49er. We had known it was windy, but it was nice to hear this that it was documented as such! In fact it got too windy to head back out for our afternoon session, as the whole fleet was grounded with gusts well over 30 kts. Forecast for tomorrow, more of the same. Day 1 = moderating.
-Zander

Europe Round 2!

2011-05-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

After a nice break to relax and replenish both mind and body, we are ready to head back to Europe for a second series of events. This time around, we will compete in Northern Europe as the weather warms and compete in the Delta Lloyd Regatta, Sail for Gold and the European Championships. First stop is the Delta Lloyd sailed on a lake just north of Amsterdam. With the North Sea just a few miles away there's an awful good chance of seeing some cold weather. Alot different from our Palma experience!

Keep posted as we will begin training on Saturday with the event beginning on Tuesday!

Hyeres Wrap Up

2011-05-01T16:19:00.001-07:00

Here’s an analysis of Hyeres after a couple days to let it all sink in…

-Our finish in the event was not as strong as we would have liked, but we know the difference between where we are, and where want to be is not far. The fleet is extremely deep, and a testament to that is in the fact that three guys who were in Silver Fleet at Palma were 2nd, 7th and 9th in Gold in Hyeres!

-One of our big goals throughout this first trip to Europe was to work hard on our speed. This, after our Fall and Winter of working hard on boat handling. As this trip wraps up, we can honestly say we have finally found a good setting for <10knots that we are pleased with. The highlight of our event was the speed we had in the races in the final day. We were able to stay in a marginal lane off the line, which was important for the race as our confidence. In >10knots, we feel we are getting faster, but are not there yet- we need to solidify some settings for breeze.

-Something that we generally have been good at but put up a poor show here was starting. I believe we only had 2 good starts out of 15. Certainly not setting us up to a good first beat as the races were in relatively steady gradient limiting the passing lanes. Further, left side of the course was favored 90% of the time so being forced right did not help! I believe this was the biggest contributor to our lack of good roundings at the first windward mark. Developing the hole and a good spot on the line, nor acceleration seems to be the problem. Rather it is our positioning relative to the few boats around us seeing us a little too bow back. This is an issue because as we accelerate, everyone else is as well, and therefore we are not afforded a bow out position. So moving forward to SPA, we will make starting a priority. We must grant ourselves a chance in the race!

-A positive rooting from our poor windward mark rounds were in our ability to grind back some decent finishes. This sparks some confidence in our sailing (but also frustration at ourselves for not have good 1st windward roundings!) Our downwinds throughout the event were definitely a positive. Our tactical decisions, coupled with good speed seemed to help us make gains off the wind.

After a long month of sailing, we are taking a well-needed break for a couple weeks to recharge the battery. This first Europe Trip has been very productive with speed work and practice races as there have been many teams around. Looking forward to SPA and Sail For Gold, our goals will most likely revolve around speed work and our starts. After so much emphasis on boat handling and comfort in the boat over the last few months, we must now focus on the fundamentals of sailboat racing.

Hyeres Training

2011-04-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

We have had some good training here in Hyeres over the past 6 days, with largely a soft thermal in the afternoon. Typical high pressure has dominated the Mediterranean and given us plenty of time to play with our boat set up in these conditions and to work on starting techniques - to help ensure we are maximizing our acceleration off the line and holding our lane at will. These practices have been extra productive because we have been able to tag along with the US Sailing Team (Erik/Trevor and Alex/Val under coach Dave Hughes) and be involved with animated (video and photos) debriefs from each session. This has been great and is helping us close the boat speed gap with the top of the class.

The third party feedback is great and we hope to work with these guys as much as they want us around! We have been experimenting with different settings, trying to attack all the nuances of world class speed. Part of it is trimming and driving technique, and part of it is rig set up - shroud tensions (caps, primaries, lowers, fore stay), mast bend, jib tack, jib clew, main batten tensions, vang tensions, bridle settings, etc. The list gets complicated fast and you have to try figure out which combinations work together in certain conditions...you can imagine a sailing log for a 49er! Whenever you have good speed against good boats, everything is measured and the conditions are noted. This has helped us start to paint the 'boat speed' picture, but this blatant experimenting seems to be accelerating this procedure. Hopefully we can continue this!

Racing starts on Sunday and the long-term forecast is for a moderate to strong easterly, possibly continuing into the week. An easterly at Hyeres is wavey (like conditions we had last thursday) and is tough for the 49er. This should make for exciting and intense racing!

-Zander

Palma Wrap up

2011-04-12T03:15:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a few days now and we can reflect back on last week's racing here in Palma.

54th/69 boats (21st country) - a disappointing finish at first glance, especially after all the work we have put in recently, but we remain confident in our sailing and our fundamental view that we can become a competitive team on the world stage by next year. We are eager to continue our training in France and then test ourselves again at the end of the month at the Hyeres French Olympic Week (ISAF World Cup Event #2 in Europe)

There are a number of observations to take note of from the event and the preceding week of training:

- The fleet is deep and close to everyone (save the Greeks, Japanese, AUS and NZL) were in attendance here in the 69 boat fleet (24 nations).

- While boat handling is an ever present priority in the boat, we are now able to play the game and it is not holding us back like it did last year. Yes we did flip on day 1 in the breeze and yes we have many maneuvers to smooth out, but the obstacles are manageable and the priority for our next chapter in the boat is boat speed. We found in this event, when the breeze was steady and there was an evident strategy that needed to be executed to get out front, we were unable to do this because we couldn't hold our lane with other top boats for any substantial length of time. It was extremely frustrating to watch this happen time and time again in our races.

Our speed is good at times and improving, but it is not consistent enough at this level. We need a coach to watch what we are doing in detail and help us develop a clear protocol of boat set up, trim (especially vang tension and mainsheet) and tune (especially low bend and forestay tension) for different conditions and give us confidence in our speed, so we can focus on the tactics and racing. All to often we feel, our lack of speed is distracting our energy away from the racing and all the tactical complexities associated with a 49er race - essentially a sail boat race in fast forward.

- Many competitors and coaches mentioned the level of the fleet has continued to improve (everyone, just like us was busy in the off-season). For us to make strides against this constantly moving bar, we need to accelerate our learning. As mentioned above, we need some coaching and not just random regatta coaches, but someone who can consistently stay with us and help us develop some consistent world class speed. It makes a difference, we have watched peers (similar vintage to us in the boat and similar training regime) make gains relative to us with coaching support. In perfect world, we would have a private coach (or atleast share a coach with a few other training partners), like many of our competitors, but it is just not a financial reality at present. We have not had any spare money for a coach since last July. We have been busy paying for sails, boat transport, air tickets, entry fee’s, insurance, line, spare parts, tools, and the list goes on! We now need to add coaching and the associated costs (coach boat, coach transport) to the same priority level as those. Until we can afford a coach, we will be working with our training partners on rig set up and continue to keep detailed notes on how everything was set and the corresponding results. The other thing we can do now is soak as much information from our friends who are going faster than us.

The level where we are and where we want to be is getting smaller, but these subtle gains can be the hardest to get and that is why we need help now. Both Jesse and I have opinions on certain techniques (trimming, steering) and boat set up (mast low bend, amount of twist, etc) but only with a knowledgeable third party behind us with a video camera can a real consensus be achieved and a truth found,

- Our starting and acceleration technique is coming together. Jesse has watched the top guys on the line and copied their pre-start ‘down speed’ technique and is now able to hold a spot on the line for up to 4 minutes. It is this funny dance of the boats creeping upwind and then backwinding back into the hole. All the while you are looking to windward to see if you can fit in a double tack to enlarge your hole and looking to leeward to protect your hole (usually by barking loud). The acceleration out of the hole is just as important and we usually start it with 6 -8 seconds to go. It requires deft main trim by Zander to power the boat up, without stalling Jesse’s rudder as the boat falls down onto close hauled....All the while we have to delicately run out onto the wing and clip in as well and make sure the boat stays perfectly flat the entire time! What we want to work on now is being able to develop a high mode when you have a marginal lane and be able to hold on until the fleet has shook out the 2nd row. Most of the time we are still starting at an end because it gives you more options if you lose your hole in the final approach. As we get more and more faith in our starting technique we will venture to the middle when our strategy dictates such.

- Tactically, for Hyeres, we are going to try and sail more disciplined on the track. Control the things we can manage (starting, windward mark approaches) and avoid taking as many flyers when we get frustrated with our speed. Yes there is a time and place for gaining extra leverage on the fleet, but the rationale must be able to be defended. It is not the way we usually sail, but if left unchecked this boat can get you into desperate situations that no normal sailboat racer would deem rational.

All in all, it is great that we have another event in two weeks and we can hopefully apply all that we have learned here in such a short time. In the training, we will continue to refine our maneuvers, boat set up and look out for a coach.

If you are interested in helping us with funding for coaching solely, we would be very grateful because coaches at this level do not come cheap and remain close to 50% of our budget through next year.

Long Day 2

2011-04-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

The second day of Palma was exceptionally long thanks to the wind dying as the gradient gave way to the sea breeze. Further, the Race Committees intent to get 4 races off (we only managed 3) definitely extended the day. Our three races were again filled with a lot of little mistakes at crucial times that saw us squander opportunities.

In the first race, a bad start coupled with the inability to get a lane led us to start way behind and out of phase in the shifty morning breeze. We were unable to get a handling of the breeze and ended with a poor 31. Then as the sea breeze filled in, we were able to start the second race of the day. We had a marginal start near the boat but were able to get a nice lane right. We managed to get going well, and were looking very promising near the top of the beat; however, we didn’t overstand quite enough on the final starboard layline, and got rolled by A LOT of boats. A potential top ten rounding turned into an 18 or 20th at the top. Not good, Incredibly agonizing. On the last upwind of the beat, we got caught too far to the unflavored side of the course and ended up 26th. In the final race, our pre-race plan of port tack approach near the boat worked out really well. After a couple minutes off the line we had half the fleet pointed at our stern; however, on the cross mid way up the leg we found ourselves unable to find a lane back right. We got pushed too far to the left and was mid 20s by the windward mark. On the last upwind, we got going well and were able to pass a few boats, ending up 22nd.

So all in all, a rough day. Frustrating to say the least. We are a couple of mistakes away from having some good races. Our speed is ok, but regardless, if we can sail smart with clean boat handling we should be able to put up some good scores. Keep posted for tomorrows races!

Palma Day 1

2011-04-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

Photo is us (in the center of the shot) approaching the windward mark in the top 10 in race 2

Racing was tough today in the puffy, offshore conditions. 20th and 29th, 51st/69 boats overall. Pretty much all the players in the world are racing this ISAF grade 1 event in Palma de Mallorca. 24 countries from all over the world.

We had two good first windward mark roundings, rounding 11th and 8th, in the two races respectively - Up with all the top boats and in unfamiliar territory to date! It was nice to do that in both races, and we know we are few boat handling mistakes away from nailing two top 15 finishes. That would have us with our training partner, currently the top American boat in the event.

We were happy with our tune, as we continue to learn more and more about our highly responsive rig. In the big breeze, we had some smooth gybes, tacks, one very nice gybe-set and some good hoists. The one real boat handling issue was our douses at the leeward mark (also the windiest part of the course), that is when we flipped in the second race on the second leeward mark rounding. It was heart breaking because we were in 14th place, over halfway through a grueling race and we had a nice little gap behind us. We righted the boat quickly and got back to racing and were still able to beat a handful of boats, but the damage had already been done...that capsize cost us 20 places overall! But this is all early days and we know we can put it together. 4 races tomorrow, a long day, and we know tomorrow will be when the results will shake out. So we live to fight another day at our first event in Europe of 2011 and have hopes of moving up through this internationally stacked fleet.

-Zander

Palma Training Update

2011-03-30T14:49:00.001-07:00

We have gotten four days of training in a several different conditions since our arrival in Palma. It took a couple days of getting Sled back into race shape after her long hiatus over the winter (and waiting for our rig to arrive from Barcelona), but by Sunday we were out on the Bay off of Palma. What a nice place to sail at with the mountains of Mallorca offering a great background to the turquoise Bermuda-esque waters of the Mediterranean. And weather-wise, we have been very fortunate with temperatures gradually rising since we arrived here.

Sailing-wise, we are shaking off the rust after our break. Everyday we are feeling more and more comfortable in the boat. And sailing in our new boat has certainly helped! The differences (other than being 10 years older) between 646 and 1108 are unbelievable between the stiff wings and hull, the acceleration and the sheer buoyancy of the boat. Our first and foremost goal of this pre-event was to regain our boat balance and boat handling touch. After 4 days in the bag, and a couple more planned, we feel our confidence and form coming back. And with a few more days of training still planned before the event, our boat handling will only improve.

To sum it up, the sailing has been positive thus far. Getting back into this new boat has most certainly been a moral-booster. After an agonizing OCR in our old boat, we are now seeing a fruition of our hard work throughout the Fall. Our speed and boat handling is now comparable to many in the fleet (though there is room for improvement!), which has now enabled us to actually race! And indeed, we have found ourselves time to time in uncharted territory of the fleet with a few good practice races in various conditions.

So after another couple days of practice we will lay low and go over the boat before racing begins Monday. Stay posted!

Spring 2011 Euro-Campaign Kicks off!

2011-03-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

We just arrived in Palma, to begin our important 2011 Euro ISAF World Cup campaign, which will be crucial in preparing us for the 2011 World Championships (Olympic Qualifier #1) to be held in the end of the year in Australia. It has been just under 5 weeks since we have last seen a 49er and we both have the itch to get back in the boat. The time away (this will be our biggest break of the year) from the boat has great and the break was strategically planned to avoid burn out problems as this busy year on the circuit cranks up. We were busy during the furlough and were able to inject some balance in our life. We fundraised, painted houses, coached, pursued our other passions (soccer and surfing), caught up with friends and family, and planned for the rest of year. The other cool aspect of all of this was talking to all our friends who were wishing us their best. It really helps us get us psyched up for what we are doing because sometimes when you are immersed in challenges associated with the campaign you can lose site of the big picture and to know that we do have a ton of support is huge. Thank you!

'Seamount Sled', our newish boat, is here and we can't wait to get her rigged up and feel the STIFF boat. One logistical reality is that our rig is in the American container which is still en transit, so we will have to see how that comes together. We have some boat work to do anyways and so hopefully it will not prove to be too big of a hiccup. The Americans were very generous to help us with our rig transportation across the Atlantic, an expensive proposition, so we will have to work around this reality.

We will keep you posted on our progress here as we gear up for the event which starts on the 4th.

-Zander

ps. Jesse capped off his month of soccer with a hat trick in his last game for Robin Hood. His second goal could have been on a sports center highlight clip - a rocket from 20 yds into the lower 90!

Capital Reserve replenishment

2011-03-10T17:27:00.000-08:00

After 2 months in Miami, sailing full-time, and no work, we have depleted cash reserves and a deep desire to get some money in the bank before we head to Europe on the 20th. What do the Kirkland Bro's do for a quick hustle? Paint! We have had an exterior painting project this week at a friend's house and next week we are doing another friend's roof. Anybody want to join our waiting list for our next project? haha
We have also been doing some Opti coaching when we can, but we really can't wait to get back in the boat in Europe! We have a big spring lined up and are ready to raise the bar.

-Zander

New Direction for Olympic Sailing

2011-02-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

Found this on the NY times online. 49ers will fit in just fine with this spectator oriented paradigm shift by the IOC...

Olympic Sailing Looks to Go Extreme
Pat Carter/Associated Press

The world’s top Olympic sailors were in South Florida reading wind and waves aboard two-person dinghies, keelboats and windsurfers at the recent Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta.
By CHRIS MUSELER
Published: February 9, 2011

The world’s top Olympic sailors were in South Florida reading wind and waves aboard two-person dinghies, keelboats and windsurfers at the recent Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. The sailing lineup has not really been altered much in the last 20 years.

But that is about to change, and this regatta provided a sneak peek into the sport’s future.

While Olympic medalists were being towed to their courses, kiteboarders skimmed along at twice their speed attached to inflatable kites at the end of 80 feet of razor-thin lines.

A new Olympic slate of classes for 2016, proposed last fall by the International Sailing Federation, or I.S.A.F., has turned the traditional sailing fleet on its head in the hope of attracting young viewers and higher television ratings, creating a sort of X Games for sailing. If men’s and women’s kiteboarding is selected, it will replace windsurfing.

“The Olympics want to promote the most advanced levels of sailing,” said Mike Gebhardt, a two-time Olympic medalist in windsurfing who raced his kiteboard in Miami. “This is high speed, visibly athletic, there are crashes, and you can tell who’s winning. That’s what sells.”

To boost support, the International Kiteboarding Association has been showcasing the fledgling discipline of kiteboard course racing at Olympic class regattas starting with a demonstration at I.S.A.F.’s first sailing World Cup event last December in Melbourne, Australia, and in Miami.

The venerable Star keelboat, in which the sport’s famous America’s Cup and Olympic medalists currently compete, including Brazil’s triple gold medalist and world yachtsman of the year, Torben Grael, is marked for elimination.

“The Star’s best asset is the sailors,” the two-time Star gold medalist Mark Reynolds said. “It represents the best of the sport with medalists from other classes racing.”

Additionally, two coed events being proposed would shift the gender split for Olympic sailing from nine men and seven women per national team to seven men and nine women.

“I.S.A.F. is on the right track to elevate the sport to a high standard,” said Gary Jobson, president of US Sailing and an ESPN and NBC sailing commentator. “Young people want action and excitement, like the X Games and slopestyle skiing.”

Jobson filmed the Miami event and said in a phone interview that it was time for an image change away from the coat and tie yachtsman.

Mandates by the International Olympic Committee have all Olympic sports re-evaluating the marketability of their events.

“The I.O.C. has moved from using a quantitative list to select events to an overall value-added selection process,” Christophe Dubi, sports director for the I.O.C. since 2008, said recently in a phone interview. “The criteria could be provenance or universality. It’s an issue of maximizing the platform we offer at the Olympics.”

Countries have until the I.S.A.F. May meeting to issue counterproposals for the 2016 slate but must offer full slates, as opposed to singling out one class for elimination or inclusion.

“Archery is a good example of a sport that is adapting,” Dubi said.

After consulting with officials from NBC and the I.O.C., Dubi said, “the format was made more compact and easier to understand in the final stages.”

“It has become one of our biggest TV products,” Dubi said.

He also pointed to the modern pentathlon, saying that combining running and shooting increased the ratings of the event.

Dubi said that sailing’s proposed slate of events was a good step forward but that the sport was still difficult to understand.

“Our most exciting images of the Games are from sailing,” Dubi said. “Your stadium is the water and I.S.A.F. is working on making this more spectator-friendly. This is what everyone should be doing.”

Dubi said sailing was in no risk of losing its place at the Olympics.

I.S.A.F. has long been challenged to make what is inherently a participatory sport a spectator sport, said the federation’s secretary, Jerome Pels, adding that the boats used are just as important to broadening appeal as how the sport is covered.

Left on the proposed slate are two men’s one-person classes, the Laser and Finn; the one-person women’s Laser Radial; the men’s 49er skiff; the women’s match racing in the Elliot 6 meter; and a new coed multihull event.

“There is a concern that new events like kiteboarding will be considered unfair,” Pels said. “Skiing’s snowboardcross came very much out of sports marketing and garnered huge popularity in Vancouver. You can come up with something a bit out of the box but stumble upon something very attractive.”

Changes to make sailing more understandable and television friendly were implemented for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Pels said. The new RSX windsurfer is now the fastest class. The advent of on-water umpiring lets the results stand on the field of play and the new Medal Race format makes it such that the gold medal is more often than not determined in the double-points last race. In the past, the event could have been won before the last day of competition or the results could have been unknown until an off-the-water jury heard protests.

I.S.A.F. has also been working with the newly revamped America’s Cup, which will use high-speed catamarans for the 2013 Cup to help make a more marketable television package.

“If we can marry technology with the compelling nature of the sport, that will make people start paying attention,” said Richard Worth, chairman of the America’s Cup Event Authority and a former marketer for the Union of European Football Associations, which is responsible for the steady rise in popularity of European soccer.

The A.C.E.A. and Stan Honey, the recent United States yachtsman of the year and co-inventor of the digital first-down line and line of scrimmage in football, are testing over the next month GPS technology overlay for live helicopter views of sailboat racing. This will show the viewer what is happening and who is winning at all times.

Beyond technology, Gebhardt believes Olympic sailing needs to be simple and exciting.

“People need to be updated and educated as they watch,” he said. “Right now kites are the fastest sailing craft on the planet: 55 knots. People will get it.”

The RSX windsurfers and Star sailors may have seen their future Olympic dreams fade as Gebhardt went skimming by in Miami. But Jobson believes at least the windsurfers’ future is safe, for now.

“Kiteboarding is a new thing,” he said. “At best it is an exhibition like windsurfing was at the 1984 Games in Long Beach. The Star has been around for 100 years. It has had a good run. Advancing is part of the Olympic spirit.”

OCR wrap up

2011-01-28T15:17:00.000-08:00

The regatta is over and now time to reflect on the past five days. We had 4-14kt Northwester to finish things off today, which was extremely shifty as the puffs dropped down from the Miami Skyline. Ask Jesse and I our favorite conditions to race a sailboat in and these would probably be them; fun shifts to keep us on our toes and still enough breeze to be moving along nicely. No one side is favored, no pre-race strategy other than keep your head out of the boat and stay in phase!

We had a pretty good day going before the last start...a 10th in the 1st one and a 12th in the second one is pretty much all we can ask from ol' Murphy (3rd oldest boat in 29 boat fleet). She is soft, has trouble accelerating in puffs and feels lower in the water than a normal boat. Not to mention the deck is soft and the wings sag (doesn't make boat handling any easier!).

We look back on that first race and we pretty much sailed a great race. We got off the line, had a lane in the first shift and stayed in phase to the top. Erik/Trevor won the race and they were with us (behind us for the 1st half of the beat) on the left and were able to boatspeed around us as we hitched up the left middle. We rounded in 12th then had a great downwind by holding starboard gybe and sailing into nice pressure and were in 8th at the leeward gate - we even passed a two Brits! We held on the second beat by connecting the puffs and then hitting the left winder at the top. The breeze got a little lighter and flukier on the final run and we lost two top boats (a Brit and the top Canadian) who seemed to carry better speed than us. Still it was a great race, where we interacted with many of 'the players' in the regatta.

The 10th does not give it justice at all, in fact, it helps to make our point that we are in a slow boat, for even in shifty, flatwater conditions (speed should be largely trumped by angle and pressure), where we sailed very well, a 10th was all we could manage. Not being able to accelerate when the puffs came down was critical. I feel bad for blaming alot of this on the boat, but it really did feel/seem that different than the newer boats. 10 years is close to a lifetime in the fast paced 49er and far too old to ask it to be competitive with a new boat. But in the end we will have to wait for the next World Cup Event in Palma, where we are sailing our new boat to showcase our point. This is good because it will be more competitive and deeper and we will need to be maximizing our potential to finish where we want to.

The 12th was also a good race, where after falling behind because of a large left shift early on (we were stuck in the middle doing 4 while the boats who hit the left were doing 9), we rallied by staying in phase and ended up having our second best race in the event.

Going into the last race, we were feeling good and confident that we had one more good race in us, to cap the event off. The points were all close and 15th was in striking distance. We knew we wanted the left and so a pin start was decided. Everything was going to plan until the final 8 secs, when we released too early and were OCS and hit the starting pin. After the spinning and clearing ourselves, we were DEEP (couple hundred yards behind), but we didn't give up and fought our way back to a semi-respectable 17th place. This was a frustrating way to end the event because we seemed to have the conditions dialed in and the error was completely unforced. We were happy with our rig setting all day and will save that for similar conditions.

Overall Regatta Overview:

- It was both a blessing and a curse to sail that newer boat a week before the event, for it was great to see what we could do after all this training against our training partners when we were into a similar boat, but at the same time it made it that much tougher to jump back into 646 for the regatta. It's all good though because that speed we had in the other boat has given us an inner strength to get through these tough times.

- Jesse and I, both economists by degree and avid followers of the market, see our campaign at the moment, in traderspeak, as a 'great buy'. There is tons of upside potential because the numbers (OCR results) don't give our sailing its fair market value. That is fine for us and our supporters who can trade on this insider information and be well positioned to the future. Please hold the faith, we have not had more confidence in our mission for London 2012, even as we come off one of the more disappointing weeks of sailing...

- The most exciting part of this week, was seeing our training partners (who we have sailed for months together in Miami and California), in new boats, excel in the event. Alex Bishop/Val Smith are in 8th, The Mexican Bro's are in 10th and Johnny and Charlie finished 11th. This shows the guys we spar with everyday are some of the faster teams out there.

- If we could do it again, we would have bought the new rig earlier because it took some days to stretch the shrouds (during racing in the first couple of days, the bend was off) and get used to the newest mast. Initially, we wanted to wait until Europe to buy the new rig, but when it became apparent that the old rig was not going to be reliable, we had to opt for the last minute purchase (and we are thankful we did!). It was different (a good thing) than our old one and took a little adjusting to, which may not have been the greatest for this event, but in the long-run was the right move. We look forward to putting it up on 1108 in Palma in March!

- A constant reality in any skiff sailing program, our boat handling needs more work...These boats are tough to sail and the brain and body can always use more conditioning. On top of our priority list at the moment will be tacks and gybes, so simple, yet so hard to master. We had a couple of tough tacks at tight moments which cost us. We also flipped on a gybe in the big puff of day 3...

- The last observation from the regatta is that the legs were longer and the laps were less than any other World Cup Event we have ever done. This put more of an emphasis on speed than usual and allowed faster teams with poor lanes off the line to claw themselves back in the race by drag racing around the course. In Europe, we found starts and hitting the first shift off the line were ultra critical as the legs were short, as we did 4 lappers. So you can imagine, on these longer legs, with our sluggish boat, it made hanging with the top guys very difficult. Often in this regatta, we were looking real good in the first half of the 1st beat, only to be reeled in by our competition and left with lackluster lanes, battling with in the middle of the pack. Our results show this with our abundance of finishes in the teens.

-Zander

More of the same...

2011-01-27T15:51:00.000-08:00

Today’s racing was in a much softer breeze of 3-6knts out of the North. But again, our speed was subpar (probably the worst comparison wise of the event), making for a very difficult series of races. The most notable implication of our slower speed came when trying to hold a lane, along with acceleration following tacks and gybes.

Through all the frustration with our speed there were a few positive glimpses (what we have to aim for in this event) in two of our three starts, where we were able to hold our hole, and start with a clear lane.

So, one more day of racing here. Forecast is calling for a little bit more, so hopefully we can end with some decent finishes with slightly better speed. But realistically, we plan on practicing specific maneuvers, the starts and anything else achievable in a 29 boat fleet.

Day 3

2011-01-26T17:35:00.000-08:00

The day started postponed as we awaited for the cold front to pass through and the weather to stabilize. Breeze ranged from 7-22 kts (although 30 was reported on the R/C boat), with most of it in the 10-15kt range out of the WSW-WNW. This was an unstable direction on the race course today because it was blowing offshore and because the jet stream had dipped down here and ushered in a cooler airmass, removing the entrenched tropical clime which we have had recently.

The highlight from the day was being 8th and 6th at the 1st weather mark roundings of the first two races of the day. This despite lackluster speed...
In both these races, we were able to get a lane off the line and hit the first major shift of both of those beats. We were also doing pretty well on the downwinds, hitting shifts and holding our own. We had a slight hiccup with our spin halyard which uncleated at two key moments, thanks to a line stuck under the halyard near the cleat. This was kinda a freak thing, but an example of how many things can go wrong in a given 49er race. Tomorrow we will cut the tail of the main halyward tweaker to avoid this!

The lowpoint on the day came from the Greeks who decided (they didn't see us apparently) to try and cross us as we approached the leeward mark on starboard. We had to make evasive maneuvers (crash gybe) to stop our boat from a dangerous collision with their bodies and boat. Just think a joust against carbon pole traveling at 18kts aimed right at your torso...not a happy thought. The Greeks were very happy we avoided the collision and spared them. However, it sent us swimming and us flaming out of our best race of the day. We were in 10th/11th at the time and the flip put us a mile behind them. The Greeks spun a circle and still finished 11th...We protested them regardless and we ended up with average points (17th). A little frustrating, but it is how it goes sometimes. We were cool with the Greeks after the protest and it was not a personal thing to protest them after they spun, we did it to get some of the points back that we lost in the incident.

Again, we feel we are doing many things right and that we just need to be patient with our older boat (4th oldest in the fleet). We are in 16th at the moment and 9 points from our goal of mid fleet (14th). We look forward to two more days of racing on Biscayne Bay. A light to moderate North/North Westerly is forecast for the rest of the event, which should provide different conditions than the past few days.

-Zander

Day 2 of OCR

2011-01-25T17:43:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of OCR brought a solid 15-20kts from the Southeast with some sizable chop (especially noticeable on Port). It was another day of poor boat speed, both up and downwind. Our boat's lack of stiffness is quite apparent in a choppy sea state as we seem to just go through the waves as opposed to skipping over then…

Though we did have some nice moments throughout the three races, with two good starts (one port hand approach at the Pin where we ducked the first 6 boats and were first to the right!), and hitting a couple wind shifts seeing us maintain a top 10 well into the 2nd windward leg. But eventually boats around us were slowly able to grind us down, seeing us finish 13th. Gotta just take the good from the races!...as hard as it is being slower than other boats.

So overall we were still able to put up good enough scores to see us move up a few places. Looking towards tomorrow we will try to sail tactically smart and hopefully be able to squeeze out some better races.

Keep posted!

Day 1 at Miami OCR

2011-01-24T17:57:00.000-08:00

Extremely frustrating day on Biscayne Bay.
Good to great starts had us in the top group in every 1st beat. However, we were plagued with sluggish speed, thanks to the old boat (feels like soggy cardboard compared to the boat we sailed last week), our new rig still breaking in which threw off our tune and generally too tight of vang on the beats. So for tomorrow, very vang cognizant, and aware that our rig may still be moving.

We were also plagued by some poor boathandling at key moments which cost us and we will work on remedying that for the future. Boathandling is something we can control out here and we will focus on it over the next few windy days.

-Zander

See the picture below of our good starting in the last race...USA 1105 was 4th in the race.

Ready for OCR

2011-01-23T15:57:00.001-08:00

Ready to go! Following our trek North for our Grandmother's service we got down to business preparing for the Day 1 on Monday. Having finished assembling our rig and refurbishing everything else on the boat we were able to get a couple sails in to make certain everything runs smoothly. Breaking in the new rig also has been a priority. Though two days is not an ideal span of time to get to break in a new rig, we feel we have decent understanding of it.

So looking to the week ahead, the forecast is looking promising with a couple days of BREEZE expected. We are anxious and excited to get back to racing after a long break (since Aug 12), and having clocked 70 days of practice. Feeling much more confident, we are hoping all those breezy practices in the SF Bay and Santa Cruz have prepared us well!

Anyways, keep posted for the results from tomorrows racing.

New Rig is here

2011-01-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

Today was a long day! We first drove up to Ft. Lauderdale this morning to pick up our rig from the shipper (we had no time to wait for them to deliver to Key Biscayne) and then drove back to Miami, picked up some parts and then spent 7 hours in boat park working on getting ready for OCR. We left with an amazing full moon rising over the mangroves and to the west a Miami skyline glittering in all its specter. It helped it was one of those warm Miami evenings, where you are thankful the sun has gone down because it offers a break from the tropical sun on this January day.

I spent 2 hours polishing the hull (after we each spent 1 hour of wet sanding yesterday) this afternoon and we got her pretty shiny. We reckon the hull has not looked this good in many years and we are happy to pamper 'our baby' before she takes care of us next week! Jesse put together the new rig, which looks great. It was like Christmas day unwrapping all the cardboard to find our precious carbon mast in great shape just waiting to be put together.

We head up to Philly tomorrow for our Grandma's service and to be at our Mum's side for a few days and then jet back here on Saturday morning to finish our final preparations for Miami OCR which starts on Monday at 11am. We still have some work to do on the rig and the hull, but hope to get a good practice in on Saturday. We especially want to take a look at our new jib, new kite, new rig and to iron out all the kinks with this new equipment. Sunday will be a short day of sailing and then we will hide from the sun. Next week will be long and it is important to be as fresh as possible.

hasta el proximo vece,
Zander

It's on the boom: Video Clip

2011-01-13T20:18:00.000-08:00

Today was an emotional day for us. Our beloved grandmother passed away early in the morning, leaving us rather solemn and not too motivated to go sailing and attack the day. We pushed through it and ended up out in Bay and realized it was windier than we had previously thought and that just going through the motions was not going to cut it...so we got down to business and focused on the task at hand. It ended up being one of our best ever training sessions in a cracking (15-22) NW'er out on Biscayne Bay.

For the first time in breeze we had good upwind speed with our training partners and managed to not flip in some tricky conditions. We believe a big key to the speed today was the coordination between Jesse on the rudder and myself on the mainsheet, we believe this relationship is steadily improving and as we get more consistent at perfecting it, our speed will get more and more consistent in this breeze. It requires complete focus to keep the boat flat and the wings just skipping above the waves; the margin of error with the trimming is small because you can easily either undertrim (often the main is flogging over 20kts) and heal to windward and send us water skiing or let the boat heal over and stall the rudder, draining precious boatspeed. Also we were very happy with our rig tune, using our friend's new mast. Our new mast is en transit and should be here next week!

We were also using our buddy's spare boat and it seems to be quite stiffer (understandably so because it is 7 years younger - 2000 vs 2007), which allows the boat to accelerate much more in puffs and is a more stable platform. It also holds the rig tension better because the boat doesn't bend. On a day like today, it was just nice to be in a newish boat and see some of the fruits of labor (70 days of sailing since august) come to light. We hadn't really seen much of it in the old boat and were starting to get a little frustrated with our sailing because we were not seeing much results. A sail like today, in those perfect conditions, with our speed, does wonders to alleviate those inner-ego musings that haunts any athlete when they are not performing to where they want to be. Thank you Jonny and Charlie for the boat usage! We will be fine in the old boat in OCR and will look forward to getting back in our newer boat (2009) in Mallorca in March!

Check out late in the video, as you see our buddy and training partner, Alex Bishop eject from his 49er after a spinnaker set goes bad quickly...common occurrence in this boat!

Sorry the camera moved a little bit from its original angle, so the wide angle is up and down, not sideways...next time hopefully.

This video is dedicated to our "Gammy" and we thank her for showing her support today. R.I.P.

better version of the video is on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/video/video.php?v=637579468488&oid=142545262465343&comments

Back into the Swing of Things

2011-01-12T13:39:00.000-08:00

After a much needed and appreciated break from training over the holidays we have hoped right back into our training routine. We have gotten five days of sailing in since returning to Miami on the 5th and have seen a wide range of conditions from 5-22knots both in steady and shifty breezes.

The training has been quite constructive as we were able to really focus on speed with a few of our training partners. We spent a couple hours each day entirely working towards speed and feel in a much better spot in that department. On another positive note, our boat handling has continued to improve. Those countless days of tirelessly practicing our tacks and gybes this Fall are certainly paying off! Having the tacks and gybes become more intuitive and second nature has created more time to think about tactics/speed, which is undoubtedly very good.

Though this week has not been entirely convivial as we had a shortcoming with our mast. Our mast track, which we had problems with in December, broke again leaving us unable to sail one afternoon….so we bought a new mast (bank account took a hit). Our reasoning- we have put way too much time and effort (70 days since last Grade 1 Event) into this to run the risk of our old mast breaking during OCR. The other thing with that old rig was that it was the 1st generation of the carbon rig and has structural differences to the current crop of carbon rigs. Getting this new rig, allows us to eliminate one more variable as we match up our gear to the competition (who all seem to be getting new boats!).

So, with the new rig coming later this week, we are excited to get it rigged and tune it up! We plan on sailing hard for another week and a half before cooling out in the lead up to the first day of OCR on the 24th. Hopefully will get another day or two in with the GO PRO!

Cross Training

2010-12-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

Since returning home for the Christmas holidays, Jesse has been able to stay active and keep fit by playing football for his old club team in a Christmas tournament. A local media website(Island Stats) posted a little article about it!
http://www.islandstats.com/sport.asp?sport=2&assoc=1&newsid=17357
Here it is-

"Olympic hopeful Jesse Kirkland took time out from hanging off his 49er Sailboat, to lace up his football boots for the PHC Zebras in their 1 – 0 loss to the Somerset Eagles during their Premier Development League (PDL) Group 3 Christmas Tournament match at the BAA Field.

Kirkland had the other media shown up would have been the story today, however now his story will not be printed until next week and then reported on the airwaves.

Kirkland came off the bench midway through the first half and played alongside Tre Ming in the PHC midfield.

PHC Zebras PDL coach Mark Wade said, “Kirkland played for PHC as a youngster, he played with the likes of Antwan Russell and Cecoy Robinson, actually he and Robinson stay in contact.”

Wade continued, “Kirkland keeps in touch with the club on a regular basis, he called and said he wants get involved over the Christmas period, he attended a few training session and we had a spot that we felt he could fill.”

“PHC is a family orientated club and we always try to keep in touch with all our players even when they move to other sports as we like to keep an eye on their progress,” wade went on to say.

“It was nice he came back around the guys and he was warmly excepted and fit right back into the family, we at PHC will be tracking Kirkland and we hope he and his brother Zander do realize their dream of qualifying for the Olympics as they will not just be representing PHC they will be representing Bermuda,” concluded Wade.

new video camera!

2010-12-14T20:25:00.000-08:00

1st day out with the go pro camera (tiny camera with fish eye lens, thank you Mum and Dad)! A pretty cool look into sailing the 49er. There will be multiple ways to tweak how we use this camera, but we are excited for the 1st attempt. For your info, the camera was on Jesse's head (perhaps aimed a little too high). Other ideas for the camera will be on the top of the mast, the end of the boom, the rudder gantry and perhaps the spinnaker pole! Stay tuned.

It was a chilly, moderate breeze day out on Biscayne Bay. We did double sessions today and are tired, but happy to make the most of the great skiff sailing conditions. We look forward to the Arctic blast moderating and Miami returning to its tropical self! 75 by the weekend! We look to make the most of the training until we pack it up for Christmas on Sunday.

-Zander

Miami Training

2010-12-10T16:27:00.001-08:00

We have had a couple of good days on the water, working out the kinks and getting back in the swing of training with other good boats. Sore muscles and hands after the break, but hopefully we will be set for the breeze (BIG ARCTIC FRONT heading our way) for late in the weekend! Stay tuned for video from our new GO PRO camera! It is going on Jesse's head and should give a good vantage to our sailing and give you a pretty good idea of what we are seeing. If only you could feel the spinnaker sheet pull or make the dash across the wings with us!

-Zander

Made it to Miami!

2010-12-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

After a week of traversing the nation, the boat finally made it to Miami! For the first part of the drive, Jesse drove solo through the desert and up and over the Rockies to our Uncles House near Denver for Thanksgiving. Then, following a well fed break, our dad flew in to co-pilot the final half down the plains on through Miami. Much thanks to him for helping Jesse handle that final 32hrs! Conditions were good as they were outpacing a storm that was moving across the nation, though unfortunately they had a solid headwind the whole time.

So after a little break(Zan coaching out in CA, and Jesse competing in a St Marys Alumni regatta), we will return to practicing down in Miami for a couple weeks before Christmas. We are looking forward to getting back into a fledged routine of practicing amongst the five or so others teams.

Here are some shots of the drive across.

Long Beach Video

2010-11-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

Back to sailing this week as we wrap up our California training (Jesse drives the boat to Miami next week). Monday and Tuesday were light and was great practice for our light air mechanics, something we did not practice much up in NorCAL. Yesterday we were greeted with a pleasant 8-12kt (just enough to get the boat powered up at times) Westerly off Long Beach and we were fortunate to have friend and top coach Payson Infelise to film the practice. The video below shows a bit of everything from the practice (tacks, gybes, straight lining, one acceleration drill, a couple of bear-aways and one extended clip of running downwind). Thanks to Payson for his time and his skill of being able to drive a coachboat and film our camera!

Our training in California this fall has been great and we are feeling more in tune with the rig and boat. It is amazing what an extended time of training will do for your 'feel'- on tuesday we did our best light air gybe on record and yesterday we did our fastest double trapping tack to date! You do a maneuver enough times that you can really start to break it down and figure out the best way to pull it off. Of course we still have lots of training to do before we will be ready for Miami OCR, but it has been a good start to our full-time training regime. We look forward to training in Miami, in December, with North America's best in the warm waters of Biscayne Bay!

-Zander

Furlough

2010-11-10T10:06:00.000-08:00

We are now down in Southern California, Jesse is fighting a bad flu bug and I have been staying busy coaching. This little break has been great to get out of the sail everyday routine and has allowed us to work towards improving the cash flow situation.

We are hoping to sail later in the week, if Jesse is up for it.

The boat is at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, the premiere sailing venue for SoCal.

Let you know when we get back out there,
Zander

SF Video

2010-11-01T20:27:00.001-07:00

Below is a clip from sailing a few weeks ago in the Bay Area. It gives an example of an average training session (boat handling oriented) out here with our American training partners - USA 1071. The breeze was fun (nothing crazy, but windy enough to make things tricky at times) for that practice and brings to light the work associated with any boat handling maneuver in this boat. Thanks to Killarney for filming and running that practice for us!

Two more days of sailing in SF with a Mexican team before head down to Southern California to coach and sail.

-Zander

Keeping it Fun!

2010-10-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

FUN DAY!

So while Jesse was working hard coaching St Francis Yacht Club's Opti Race Team, I decided to go for a sail with one of my best buds, Davo Siegal. We went to Tabor and Tufts together and have done tons of sailing together, but never in the same boat. It was Dave's first time in a 49er and it was my first time sailing the 49er with someone other than Jess. So a day of firsts for sure and I was a little worried about how we and the boat would hold up, especially given the stormy, SF afternoon which created variable wind around the bay. I mean Davo's no slouch in a boat, being a two-time All-American and all, but I remember Jess and I's first day in a 49er and there's plenty of scar tissue around from the amount of flailing and swimming involved. I can remember that day so clearly, we were so clueless, we were lucky we didn't break anything major or hurt ourselves. What Dave and I concluded was that it really helps to have someone who has an idea in the boat.

You can evaluate two photos below, one from Jess and I's first day and then one from today with Davo. Pretty funny. I was joking that Dave was insulting the 49er by not capsizing during his first session. He was focused the entire session and was taking my comment to heart that "Its full on from the moment the boat leaves the dolly to the time it gets back on the dolly." He also got lucky that the variable breeze was light in the beginning, while he was getting a feel for it and then it built for the end. Dave's good luck I swear...

Jesse and Zander's first day...December 2008

hmmm...where's Jesse?

Davo and Zander's first day...Nov 2010

Photos from Saturday's racing

2010-10-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

Photos from St. Francis YC Fall Dinghy - Saturday

Cruising Downwind across the finish line (altered because out of focus)

Powered Up at the Finish

Close Up across the line

Off the line and staying warm in the rain.

more photos can be found by the same photographer at:
http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com/ST-FRANCIS-YACHT-CLUB-REGATTAS/fall-dinghy-olympic-class/14331603_ceiPB#1060957013_JEA3B

No racing today

2010-10-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

We did not race on the final day of the Fall Dinghy as the weather did not quite cooperate with blistering rain and a howling 20-40knots. So we ended up 3rd in the event, and feeling optimistic about how things are going right now! This past month of training has certainly been beneficial, and are looking forward to finishing off our training in the Bay area with a good week of training with an additional team showing up(mexicans).

1st Bullet!

2010-10-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

We won the last race today in the Fall Dinghy at St. Francis YC in a stormy south wind off the city! It could have come in more glorious circumstances, but at least we got it over with! We were winning the race off the line and extended from there. It was nice to be able to race and have good speed. Our windward mark results for today were 2, 2, 1, so nice 1st beats, we just need to hold on better. We are tied for 3rd at the moment out of the this small 7 boat fleet. Stay tuned for photos and results tomorrow. follow the racing at: http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=3347

-Zander

Santa Cruz Video

2010-10-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a little clip from sailing in the big breeze and waves in Santa Cruz...a couple bear-aways, couple of average gybes, one wrapped kite and Erik and Trevor's epic reverse pitch pole! Looks way more tame on video than it really was. The windiest day went undocumented. At least we got something on video to bring it to life on the computer.
-Zander

SF Training update

2010-10-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well this coming week we will be moving base camp across the bay to the St. Francis Yacht Club, as we prep for the St. Francis Fall Dinghy regatta next weekend. It should be a relatively informal regatta (only 5-6 boats), but it will be nice to get back into some real racing and put up our nice sails. Also sailing at the city front increases our odds for good breeze this late in the sea breeze season. It has been great to dedicate all this time to training and being able to focus on a few things. Lately we have been working on acceleration coordination, gybing in big chop, tacking in big chop and managing the spinnaker efficiently at mark roundings. Our main trim is improving upwind and we are starting to hike harder (get lower and straighter) off the wire.

With our training partners, Alex and Val we have done a ton of small course racing and after us crews get knackered from the high intensity cardio work out, we work our way upwind, tacking and crossing intermittently and then bomb downwind trying to land all of our gybes. We have noticed a large difference between the 10yr old boat and the new boat, it is way stiffer and everything is more difficult on the older boat because it is all moving a little. We call it 'Nike Air Cushioning' out on the old wings...

Our sailing on the bay to date has been productive, but has taken a toll on our gear. The short, current (ebb) induced shop is tough to sail in and put lots of pressure on the boat. Since we have been here, we have broken a tiller, ripped the mainsail clew, ripped the bolt rope on the mainsail, broken down the centerboard lining and cracked the centerboard on the trailing edge. The lessons we are learning on boatwork (working with carbon fiber, west system, 5200, etc) are invaluable and the knowledge gained will help keep our campaign as self-sufficient as possible. We are happy to say that the boat is now watertight, after leaking gallons in Santa Cruz.

Our camera has been out of batteries for a while, but now it is reloaded and hopefully we will get some media to you ASAP. We had video of us from our friend's camera, but are still chasing it up. stay tuned.

-Zander

Back to the Training

2010-10-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

After our FULL-ON windy and wavy training camp in Santa Cruz concluded, we drove the boat up to Richmond Yacht Club on San Francisco Bay where we will sail till the end of October. But before we began our second training camp, we took a break from 49er sailing to compete in the US Team Racing Nationals in Seattle. It was refreshing to get in another boat (Zander helming for the first time in 12months!). Though reaching 5th place on the second day, we fell back a bit on the final day seeing our team end up 7th in the highly competitive, invite only field including two World Champions.

On Monday we flew back to the Bay area, and since have commenced our training with a few American boats. We have put some serious TLC hours into this older boat over the last few days and she is finally looking and feeling good and staying dry! The sailing here can get especially gnarly as on our first day there was a 12-18knots in some severe ebb current-induced chop. As you could imagine, the sea gets very messy making for sailing this boat rather tricky. Yesterday was a little tamer, which allowed us to get out further in the Bay. We actually made it beyond the Golden Gate Bridge, out to the beginning of the Pacific- such a cool place to sail with the dramatic landscapes!

So as we forward with our training here, we will continue to work on our boat handling in waves and breeze, whilst also doing some speed work with our training mates.

Keep posted as we will hopefully have some new video clips thanks to some friends coming out and filming!

Good Day on the water

2010-09-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

After a couple days of seemingly endless frustration, yesterday we were able to make the most of the wavy and windy conditions- and without any breakdowns! It was a another beautiful day in Santa Cruz with the standard Northwesterly filling in around midday. We were able to make some good headway in the difficult conditions of 15-20+knots, combined with a groundswell mixed with the wind swell.

The drill of sailing round a windward leeward course for the day was simple in theory, but provides much challenges in practice! The breeze isn't the biggest problem in this kind of sailing, its the massive waves. With these big waves rolling through the courses, challenges can be met both in the upwind and downwind. Upwind, keeping the boat level through the troughs and peaks of the seas, as well as keeping yourself balanced on the wing as you get some air are the main concerns. Not surprinsingly, bearaways prove to be little more difficult in this stuff as well because of the concern of plowing into the backside of wave and pitch poling in the most powered up angle to the breeze! On the downwinds, keeping the bow out of the upcoming waves is priority number one as one slipup and your over! Also, when it comes to gybing, timing is essential because you dont want to be crossing the boat as the bow stuffs into a wave.

So, all in all, a much better day. We were able to identify some points to work on, and we also tried some new things. One particularly was Zander trimming the mainsheet for the bearaways instead of me. We found this to be beneficial as he has more ability to trim in and out through the larger sea state- will work more with this today.

Anyways, off to another day of practice. Hopefully another good day!

Santa Cruz Training

2010-09-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

Well we have been in Santa Cruz for a week now, after crossing the country in 45 hours, with the boat ontop of the car. The training so far has been frustrating because we have been dealing with breakdowns in the harsh, breezy Santa Cruz conditions. We have broken a jib halyard, 2 sets of vang arms, 1 vang lever and destroyed a jib. The jib was destroyed as I went through it on a failed bear away attempt. Part of the reason for the trouble bearing away was that the vang lever had bent and we couldn't release enough leach tension and hence the boat was too powered up to bear away. It was scary as I was launched through the air heading towards the jib, it was all I could do to avoid the rail! Jesse quickly followed me through the front of the jib and we knew the sail was done. The whole bottom panel had a hole the size of me, oh well. Live and learn. A) Go on in when you notice vang lever is starting to bend and B)Stay south of Steamer Lane, where it is more protected. We always seem to learn everything the hard way in this boat! It must be noted that all three boats that day, came into the harbor under jib alone, so it was not just us having issues with the strong wind and breeze!

Hopefully today will be more productive for us and we can log some quality hours in the wind machine outside the harbor.

Pictures when we can find a cable to upload our photos.

We have been graciously hosted by the Lezin's (parents of Ben) and couldn't more stoked on our housing. Thanks guys for being so welcoming and taking us in!

-Zander

Front Page and Info Session Tonight!

2010-09-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

Shot by Scott Tucker for upcoming Bermudian Magazine Article, Sept 2010

Big Day for us! Front page on the Bermuda Sun and our 1st Info Session at RBYC this evening at 6pm. We have a fun, informative power point lined up, hope people enjoy. See you there!

Check article at:
http://bermudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=8&SubSectionID=121&ArticleID=47956

We head to the States tomorrow. We leave for our drive across California early next week, with our boat ontop. Training camp starts on the 17th in Santa Cruz. We will be sailing with the top American teams and their world class coach; we are excited to be included!

-Zander

BODA Clinic with de 'youts'

2010-09-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

We just finished a clinic for the new crop of Bermuda’s sailors this past weekend. Unfortunately Tropical Storm Fiona’s close pass to the island Saturday saw us cancel the first of the two-day clinic, but we were able to make up for it with a couple good sessions on Sunday. There were definitely lots of potential in these youngsters, and not one over 12 years old! On top of that, the group was evenly mixed between boys and girls providing a well balanced pod. We hope this group sticks together and continues to progress together in the coming years. Always to nice to give back to the next generation of Bermudian sailors!

Cross Training and Recharging

2010-09-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

Back home for some R&R after a full summer of 49er sailing, in between coaching gigs, I was able to go surfing and get some fun waves at home - a rarity indeed. I feel surfing is great cross training for 49er sailing because it is an amazing upper body workout and it is great for your balance. Both balance and upper body strength are essential to crewing in a 49er. The other great thing about surfing is its ability to clear your head and revitalize you, something I needed after 3 windy, cold weeks in Weymouth. Now I am all fired up on training in California in a few weeks (we start the 17th hopefully). Thought I would share this with you because this cross training is more interesting than my normal routine in the gym.
-Zander

49er #2 heading to Port Elizabeth, NJ

2010-08-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

THANK YOU Bermuda Container Line!

For the second time in our young campaign's history, BCL has shipped our boat across the Atlantic for free! We thank them for coming onboard so early in the campaign and for being so generous with their valuable, regular service to the US East Coast. We look forward to vindicating their good faith given to us. They are the first Bermudian company to stand behind us and we will never forget their assistance in our time of need (these early, unproven days are not easy!). We hope as we continue to improve on the international scene that more Bermudian companies will stand behind us. For now, all we can do is train away, be thankful for the loyal sponsors we have now and trust as this campaign becomes more visible that more companies will want to get behind us.

Plan Forward:
Our older boat (still thinking of a good name for her) is heading to the States for training in California and Florida in the Fall and coming Winter. We will drive her across in mid-September and then immerse ourselves in big wave and breeze practice in Santa Cruz, California. We will be sailing with the top Americans and a world class coach from Holland. We hope to leave off where we ended in Weymouth and continue our windy boat handling practice. After Santa Cruz, we head just north to the sailing mecca of San Francisco Bay for more big breeze practice for October. We will also be coaching Optimists, Lasers and high school sailing to help pay the bills. We will head south to Southern California for November for more training and coaching. Plenty of logistics to work on...

-Zander

Biggest Breeze and Top speed to Date!

2010-08-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

Between sessions at the Portland Bill

Action in Weymouth Harbour

Today was WINDY...the low passed (which had rained on us for the last 3 days) and a clearing Westerly ensued on the Dorset coast. The breeze built quickly in our first morning session and by the end of the practice, we were feeling a gear in the boat that we had not yet felt (we reckon we were solidly in the low 20's in terms of boat speed). It was scary, it was addicting and it was humbling.

The weather station on the breakwater had the wind averaged at 23kts with gusts to 30kts. It was blowing so hard, that if we were launching at that strength, we would have probably not gone out for fear of breaking our boat and bodies and the lack of a coach boat. BUT we were happy we stayed out because it proved to ourselves that we can handle it (as much as one can when this boat takes flight) and the speeds were addictingly fun. It was an amazing feeling with the kite up, to be hit by these big puffs, you just felt the boat lurch forward (from doing 18kts to 22kts) and then just steamroll over the waves. All we could do was hold on and stay focused to avoid any potential consequential wipeout - complete 'in the moment' focus.

We had one really close call, where we were almost bowled over by one of these mega-puffs and we barely held on to keep our feet planted in the straps on the wing...yikes, still gives me shivers. We had one pitchpole that would have been great on camera, we duffed a gybe in some waves and then planted the bow. I realized the boat was going down, so I bailed out with water surging all the way back to the mast and left Jesse in the straps, trying to postpone the inevitable. Well it ended pretty, with Jesse getting ejected from the back of the near vertical wing as the boat cartwheeled downwind...so much power it is not funny! The bear-aways are another heart stopper, each one today you got that weightlessness feeling as the bow made its way down to our downwind course - a very line from throwing us well forward of the forestay!

Still have lots to learn in these extreme conditions, largely gybes, tacks and mainsheet trim (learning to balance the flogging main and with the steering). It all seems elementary now, but it is another to do it in this boat at those speeds and wave states. Time on the water in stuff like is the key! The cool thing about being out when it was that windy, was that it pushes your comfort zones and it made our 2nd session in 15-22 seem much more civilized than it had been before.

One more day of practice in Weymouth and then back to Bermuda to recharge and get ready for our big breeze practice in Northern California.

-Zander

Still in Weymouth and its still Windy!

2010-08-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

We have gotten back to business here in Weymouth after a furlough for a few days in Cornwall(far southwestern England), where we laid low and hung out with some old family friends in the shire. Thank you Bulgin's for your hospitality! Our muscles were appreciative of the reprieve and left us ready to attack this final 6 days of training.

Training by yourself in any normal boat is usually hard to motivate to create a productive practice, but in this boat at our level, it is fine. We have had breeze over 15 kts the entire time, with the bulk of it being in the 18-20 kts+ range, so "the beast" is quite handful in itself. Our first two days we sailed double sessions, logging a solid 4 hours both days, enough to be sore and falling asleep on the couch before 10 (so lame, but that's the reality of what these boats do to you). Don't get me started on how much I am eating, lots of protein and carbs!

Today was windier than the past few days and as we sailed into the harbor, right as we lowered our wires and powered her up, bammm...both of us fly into the water to windward. We look up and see the main down three feet from the hoist...we ripped the head out of our main! The eye fitting in the head pulled out of the kevlar/mylar head, leaving the main sagging and us in the water. We got her back to the sailing club, got the sail to the sail maker and got the sail back and made it out for a quality, early evening session in a solid 15-25kts. It was a good session with some good breeze gybes and tacks. Also I am focusing on my trimming from staying straight out, fully lowered, which is easier said than done, but essential at the international level.

Although this extra practice time is not glorious (we are alone, the weather is miserable and the wind is relentless), it has been great for our sailing and just what we needed...

sore, chilly and desperately longing to return to summer weather,
Zander

Final Day of Sail for Gold

2010-08-14T13:38:00.001-07:00

The final day of Sail For Gold was the longest day of the event, and in fact, the longest day of 49er sailing we have ever had. Having left the dock sometime around 12, we did not reach the ramp till 7pm! What an exhausting day of sailing- especially for the Zan working hard up in the front of the boat. We completed 3 races, and had one race abandoned in an incredibly shifty North Westerly of 5-18knots.

Racing wise, it was probably our best day at this event as we were able to string together some good things in each of the 3 races (and the race abandoned). In the first race of the day we were in 6th at the windward, and they were able to improve on it by gybe-setting and putting our nose into the current seeing us move up to 3rd! However, the breeze died as we approached the leeward mark and they abandoned the race. AH! In the resail, we managed to match the quality of the abandoned race, and rounded the first windward in 7th or 8th, and finished in the low teens. Race 2 saw us round the first windward pretty deep, but we were able to grind it out and pass a few boats by the finish. In the final race of the day, we put together a really good first upwind beat where we were winning for a little bit! But ended up rounding 4th. Soon after the breeze got really funky, and our downwind speed in light wind and chop was not great seeing us fall back. Not how you want to end the day and the event, but nonetheless there certainly were a few highlights on the day.

We were quite pleased with our starting as we managed to get off the line in good shape in all of the starts. The best start of the day for us came in the second race when we won the boat in a committee-favored starting line- what a great feeling to look under the boom and see the entire fleet! Unfortunately we got caught on the wrong side of a lefty half way up the beat as we got caught too far right (what we thought was the favored side… ) But nonetheless, we were quite happy with the start, and starting by and large on the day. Another positive on the day was our heavy wind gybes and tacks where we were becoming competitive with the fleet AND we did not flip on the day!

So, as we move forward, again we will aim to tackle the boat handling while also start focusing on getting consistently up to speed with the fleet. When we reflect on the event, a few notable things stick out. 1. Our starting was good! We managed to have around 7 good/front row starts. 2. Our speed and pointing is not quite there on a consistent basis, BUT, not surprising as have focused primarily on boat handling, not speed. 3. As I just mentioned, we focused on boat handling for a majority of the time before the event, and we certainly saw a significant improvement.

Now, we are going to take a 3 day break and explore the Cornwall region. After sailing 9 out of the last 10 days your muscles and mind get pretty tired! Then somewhat rejuvenated, we go back to Weymouth to do some more intensive boat handling practice before heading home on the 25h.

Silver Day 1

2010-08-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

Battled today in a shifty, blustery 10-22kt NW'ster out in Weymouth Bay. We hit some good shifts at times and stayed upright, but continue to be plagued by little things that we need to work on to put together at good race at this level.

We found our bridle was off to one-side and was part of the reason we were having height on starboard. We also watched the gold fleet racing on the big screen and have figured that we are too far forward in the boat going upwind, so that is something else we will try tomorrow when going upwind in the breeze. Also another thing hampering us today was our spinnaker pole was not getting far out enough and hence were not able to get a sufficiently tight spinnaker luff, which made it harder to carry in the breeze and also less efficient VMG downwind. We believe the reason for this was because I tied the spinnaker tack too tight and prohibited the pole from reaching its full extension. Live and learn. The other thing we are still working on is our communication amongst ourselves in the boat in the heat of the moment. It is one thing when everything is relaxed and the boat is going slow, but it is a whole different deal when the breeze is up and we are trucking along and dealing with converging boats and current on the race course! This will come with time as we adjust to sailing with each other and to being in such a machine at such speeds.

We are looking forward to our boat handling training which we will be doing after the event at the venue - in these boats boat handling is the name of the game! After this event, we hope to be more prepared for our next event which will be Miami OCR in late January.

Also a big thanks to Paul Hiles for watching us today and observing the racing and offering an interesting perspective on the racing. He trooped it out in a cold coachboat all day for us! Thanks Paul. We continue to remain indebted to you for all your work for us! We look forward to him watching us tomorrow as well. It also allowed him to see us in action and gain some understanding of the "beast" we are trying to tame! He was awed by the boat's performance and called it "a F-1 Ferrari". He said it is like no other type of racing and people really need to watch this level of racing to grasp how tough it is. He watched the gold fleet race too and said everyone was having issues and it was just a matter to get through it ASAP and get back up to speed. That's what we have to keep in mind, as we continue to battle with the boat.

Keeping on the good fight,
Zander

Racing concludes for us tomorrow.

Day 3

2010-08-11T12:20:00.001-07:00

Day 3
Today brought similar conditions to day 1 with a shifty 12-16knots from the southwest. And though the current was pretty slack for race 1, it picked up to a significant level for the remaining races (almost directly against the wind). So, as there was no racing yesterday, the Race Committee set and completed their goal of 4 races in our fleet for the day…to sum it up, it was a long day!

We had a couple good starts today where we were able to get a lane soon after the start, which has been one of our goals we set before the event. In one of the good starts, we were able to play a few shifts on the beat, and round the windward mark in 10th. After a well played gybe-set to the favored side of the course, we over-compensated into the adverse current on our starboard gybe to the leeward mark and overstood. We loss a handful of boats, but still managed a decent finish (this adverse current on the downwinds definitely throws a curveball when sighting your laylines). Unfortunately we soon found out we were over early, BUT its not so bad as it’s a sign we are pushing the line with competitive acceleration.

Now onto our boat handling. It is definitely improving-we are becoming more comfortable with both the tacking and gybing(our tacks are now getting competitive with the top boats in the fleet). Further, our mark rounding’s are also getting cleaner. Now the frustrating part. Despite all these gains we have made refining our boat handling we have not seen major changes in our placement in the fleet. But, this is not a total surprise as Zach Maxam once told us that when you make gains inside the boat cleaning up boat handling you will not seen big changes in your position in the fleet. SO, we can not get too upset, but nonetheless it is a little disheartening.

So, onto Silver Fleet tomorrow. The forecast calls for more of the same, maybe a little bit windier. We are hoping we can continue our progression in the boat handling department, and combined with some good tactics perhaps squeeze out some good finishes!

J

BLOWN OUT

2010-08-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

No racing today for us as an Atlantic low pressure system approached the British Isles and made for misty, windy conditions that were not suitable 49er racing. The associated cold front kicked up 25-30kts of SW breeze for blue fleet's (yellow fleet was able to get two races off) scheduled afternoon races, so we will race early tomorrow and then re-seed and race again in a new group in the afternoon...going to be a long day. The breeze is forecast to go NW as the cold front pushes through tonight, so it should be puffy, offshore conditions with sunny periods!

We were very close to launching late this afternoon, but the wind built too high and today's races were abandoned. We were relived because it was windy enough for the good guys to look a little skittish...

-Zander

Sail for Gold - Day 1

2010-08-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

We were greeted by a hazy southwester on the race course off Portland Bill today; the breeze ranged from 9-15kts with over a knot of current pushing diagonally (setting probably 15 degrees to the left of true wind) upwind. The race course is in a great location for 49ers when there is any sort of west in the breeze because the course is tucked under the giant offshore breakwater. However, the course is not protected by the current and this was clearly an important factor in the races out there - the current effect was very noticeable at the starts and at the windward and leeward mark laylines. With the windward current the starts were treacherous, as many people got OCS's and BFD's throughout the day. This is something we need to get used to and remember to always have a good idea of where the line is.

Race 1
We had the boat set up for more breeze than we had (we got too focused on the windy forecast) and we were SLOW - we now will be very careful of depowering in marginal conditions because it is very apparent when the boat is not set up properly. We had a good start under the black flag down near the pin next to the Aussies, where we were bow out on them, but then were soon bowled over by their blistering pace. The highlight of this race was that it had clean boathandling throughout!

Race 2
We raised the jib tack and took turns off the rig to power it up after the previous race. This made a huge impact on our speed as we warmed up before the 2nd race! We had a great start at the middle boat, a clear lane and good boat speed at go! It could have been a top 3 start if I had trimmed in the main a second or two earlier, but I was gun shy with the black flag and misread my watch, all to Jesse's ire as he wanted to accelerate earlier. In the end Jesse was clearly right and I will trust Jesse with his call on the line next time! Anyways, we were still in good position and picked some shifts with the top guys. It was awesome to feel fast with them and hang with them for the entire beat. We were stoked! We had a couple clean tacks when it counted too.

We rounded the windward mark in 12th or so and then ran into issues with the hoist. Somehow the starboard kite tack got stuck on the end of the bow (we need to tighten our kite bag) and the kite would not go up. We had to lower it and raise it numerous times before we got it clear, by that time the fleet had ditched us and we were in 3rd last...ahhhhh! We never regained composure after this incident and flipped in a puff on the gybe. Lesson learned, avoid blame game in the heat of the moment and move on. Still in hindsight, we were excited that we had pace with the top guys and it was nice to round in front of the reigning European Champions (Team GBR - Draper/Greenhaulgh). It was amazing what a little tickering with the rig does! It was kinda of a freak murphyism to have the tack get stuck like that, but we will recheck the bow pole fitting and tighten up the spinnaker bag.

Race 3
We had another good start at the middle boat, but suffered for pointing because we didn't have enough vang. This caused us to lose our lane and have to tack out to the unfavored side. We missed a shift because we were a little frazzled on why we weren't pointing and by the time we realized our vang setting was the problem we had been sent back to the aft end of the fleet. This fleet is extremely unforgiving (as it should be at an Olympic level) and we need to work harder to get everything right. Slowly, but surely...

- Zander

Prep before Sail for Gold

2010-08-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been very productive here in Weymouth with some quality training in breeze varying between 8-25knots over the four days. Over the course of the training we seen many different combinations of wind conditions and sea states as we have split our time between inside and outside the enormous breakwater.

Though we haven’t sailed as much as we would have liked with other teams, we definitely set and achieved our goal of hammering away at the boat handling. We were able to really focus on our tacks and gybes, and with the variant wind conditions were able to set different priorities in the respected condition. After some seriously long up and downwinds we finally felt a sort of understanding into the mechanics of the maneuvers.

And, on a side note, we were able to keep pushing our comfort zone to new levels, as one of the days was a steady 20-25knots with higher gusts! Not just trying to “survive”, we continued our boat handling mission in the breeze with some success. However, on more than one occasion, we were pleasantly reminded of the power of the 49er…. BUT, the biggest positive of the breezy day came following our experience over the next couple days in 8-15knots where we felt somewhat more comfortable and less frantic throughout the motions.

So, with the regatta starting tomorrow in a decently forecasted breeze (12-18knots), we hope to put our boat handling work to the test! The fleet is quite deep here with a lot of talented teams and few new teams, but we hope if we can just do the fundamental things right we have the potential to put ourselves in some promising positions.

Getting settled in Weymouth

2010-08-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well we arrived in Weymouth on Tuesday evening after taking the BA red eye from Bermuda on Monday night. We had to pick up our boat at Paul Hiles's house in Torqay (southwest of England) and then put it on our rental car without roof racks and take it to the 2012 Olympic venue. Good thing Paul had some old pillows that we could lay down on the roof because they allowed us to put our '2 by 4's down to support the boat! We had tie-downs running through the inside of the car to support the wood/pillow roof rack! Anyways, we hope to never do it again because it endangered our boat and the car's roof (we can't afford to mess with either)! Photos above.

Special thanks to Paul and Lyn Hiles for accommodating our boat and reviving us after our red eye flight! Paul has also been extremely helpful getting us oriented in Weymouth, helping us with everything from current/wind local modeling to hooking us with great housing and boat storage in Weymouth. We look forward to continue to working with Paul as he is a great local contact with a wealth of sailing knowledge at an international standard. We are stoked! Thanks Paul (I doubt he will ever read this blog, not his thing!)!

Practice - Day 1
We had a great day of practice here in Weymouth today. It was WNW breeze (any element of westerly breeze is offshore in Weymouth), anywhere from 10-18kts. In the morning we did some boat handling and starting exercises in the harbor. This was a great way to warm up to the boat after our 3 week break since Poland.

In the afternoon, we ventured out into Weymouth Bay, just beyond the large breakwater (think Dockyard times 4!) where our 49er course is located. The breeze built and we had a great practice sailing in 12-18kts. The sailing area is still pretty flat water because it is in the lee of the breakwater, making for good skiff conditions. We did a practice race with the fleet and then sailed by ourselves working our tacks and gybes. It was great practice and we both feel like the we are figuring out our footwork better. It hardly felt like we skipped a beat from our sailing in Poland and we feel fresh and ready to move forward - we must always remember to plan time away from the boat to let the learning soak in and to stay fresh. We will be practicing until the event starts on Monday.

-Zander

Euro trip wrap up

2010-07-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

I wrote this for an NHYC write up, but it brings to light a few interesting things we have picked up on. read below:

"We first sailed Kiel Week in mid June, an ISAF Grade 1 event in Northern Germany, where we battled with a tough 59 boat fleet. The event was mired with light airs and was a little disappointing that there was not as much sailing as hoped. Still, the first day was windy and we completed three windy races which was invaluable practice as our time in breeze is still limited and every race day in breeze moves us along on the learning curve. It was apparent that we were out of practice after our spring hiatus - to allow Jesse to graduate - but we are not worried about results at this early juncture, only learning and underlying performance. In this boat, racing is the best practice you can get! We ended up in Kiel, a very humbling 50th place, a reminder of how much work we have to do to get to the World Standard.

We then packed it all up (49er on top of the rental car) and headed 10 hrs east to Gdynia, the sailing capital of Poland for the 49er European Championship. The European Championship is arguably more competitive than the World Championship because the heart of the class lies in Europe and this championship is always very well attended. The Bro's had the same goals for the European Championships as for Kiel Week, to log focused hours in the boat and continue to keep on learning as much as possible. With our amount of time in the boat to date, results were not a priority. Yes, we wanted to do well and have our moments up in the fleet, but we were realistic about our chances with a fleet of professional sailors. We wanted to do well at everything we could control (ie. tactics, starts, etc), but were cognizant of the fact that their boat handling would let them down at times.

The 82 boat fleet was stacked: full of World Champions, Olympic Medalists, professional big boat sailors and top skiff sailors. We pretty much had every condition over the 6 days of racing: everything from puffy, offshore conditions, to big waves associated with a sea breeze, to light air - great practice for us, but also extremely tiring after 3 days straight of solid breeze. We had some good starts, some good first beats, some solid second beats, some fast mark roundings, some good upwind and downwind speed, but we never really had the consistentcy to put it together for a complete race. This we believe is a symptom of our lack of time in the boat relative to our competition. After the dust settled, we ended up in 68th place (14th in Bronze), once again a rather lowly position to find ourselves in, but you have to earn your place in this fleet and up until now we could not put the time in. However, it was great immersion training and has stoked our fires to train hard to move forward from here.

So yet again, we would argue the results do not our sailing performance justice, but that is the nature of this class and now that we are sailing full-time we hope to remedy it. It seemed like we were one or two "catastrophic" (in terms of the race) mistakes away from being way higher on the results. For example, in strong breeze, our tacks and gybes are pretty solid, but put us in a situation where it is pressurized (at marks, crossing with other boats, etc), we can't do them consistently and that quickly jeopardizes the race. It is frustrating because you will have battled all the way around the race course and then one mistake takes you out of the race. The other thing we are finding frustrating at this juncture is that our poor boat handling is at times inhibiting our level-headed tactics, something traditionally we have been very good at because we are not comfortable enough in the boat. On numerous occasions we will have found ourselves in tough situations where if we did not have our boat handling nagging us, we simply would not have been there. For example, it could be not having faith in making a tack in a breezy race to go back to the side that was favoured or not starting near favored end because we didn't want to tangled up on the line. This is something we can work on now, even with limited boat handling, for we can be aware of this problem and avoid the boat sailing us into places we do not want to be! The philosophy that we constantly preach in the boat: Don't let something bad/mistake (ie. our boat handling) snowball into a worse situation (ie. miss a windshift because of fear of tacking). Minimize the loss and move forward. Don't obsess over it, the boat affords no time to leave the "here and now".

Up next for us is the Olympic Test Event in Weymouth ("Sail for Gold") in August (9th-14th). We will have 5 days of practice before the event and then a training camp after the event to get us acquainted to the venue and to log more hours in the boat. The goal is to put together a "complete race" there and to keep on improving with the underlying performance. We will then be sailing in San Francisco this September/October to practice heavy air sailing with top Americana and Canadian teams.

European wraps up

2010-07-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

Day 6

A high pressure is parked over the Polish Baltic coast again, giving us more hot weather and an afternoon sea breeze. Today actually was a decent sea breeze and our one race was held in a nice 7-10. We were full double trapping sometimes and never easing the sheet. After a rough 1st beat, where our settings were not dialed in for the building thermal, we had a great race. We passed boats on the 2nd upwind and then a bunch of boats on the final run to finish 13th.

Once we got enough vang on and the job halyard on tight enough, our upwind pace was great. We had some good lee-bows (pulled a good tack off in a pressurized situation) and were doing a good job keeping the boat steady in the water. This was something we wanted to work on over the summer and with all the light/medium air we have had, we are starting to feel more comfortable in these conditions. On the runs, we were doing a good job working low when we could, but all the while holding our speed when we needed to. This is done by both of us moving in and out on our wires to make sure the boat never heals to windward as we soak low when we can. It is a feel thing and comes with time in the boat.

Overall we ended up 14th in Bronze (28 boats) and 68th/82 overall. Not an amazing result and not up to our goal of top 2/3, but it was great exposure to the highest level in the world. We simply need to sail more with a focused program to get to the higher echelons of the class and that is exactly what we are planning. We are excited to get some training in because we feel we are a few key mistakes away from moving up in the class. These mistakes takes hours of practice to work out, there is no way to fudge your training in this boat. The lack of hours in the boat since Miami were apparent, but we made the most of this month of sailing and have made training contacts all over the world. We are going to be training with top North American sailors in San Francisco Bay in September/October. Should be great heavy air practice!

Jesse is driving the boat to England right now and I stay here to coach Laser Jr. Europeans. We both get to recharge in Bermuda before heading to England to sail the Olympic Test Event (Sail For Gold, Weymouth) in early August. We look forward to continue our treacherous dance up the learning curve!

This all happening and we are stoked!

Day 5 of Euros

2010-07-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

After a refreshing break from the Baltic Sea norm with the passing cold front, today brought back the heat and light winds. We sailed two races in a light and rather steady, onshore 3-6 knots in some solid chop.

In both races, we were unable to have as much fortune on the starting line as the previous day leaving us to try and work our way back through the fleet. We were quite unfortunate in the start of the first one as we had good positioning right near the favored pin and left side of the course; however, the three boats that were OCS happened to be the 3 boats just to leeward of us. AHH! With no lane, and minimal wind shifts, our windward leg was mediocre. But after a good downwind and a very nice second beat we were able to pass 8-10 boats by the finish.

The second one saw us have a similar poor start and windward mark rounding, but a really good second upwind saw us again move our way through the fleet to 10th from 20th at the first mark.

Consensus on day:
- Speed was good most of time, just occasionally we were having problems, possibly due to big chop
- When breeze was a steady as it was, an emphasis is definitely put on starting!
- Our light wind tacks have improved significantly as we now have a mini roll to quickly get the boat back up to speed.
- Twice we were able to recover from a poor windward mark rounding, and turn a poor result into a respectable one.

One more day than the boat and Jesse head to England – 20hrs of driving to be broken up by a world cup match! Zander stays in Poland to coach Chris Barnard (Newport Beach, CA) at the Laser Jr. European Championships in Gdynia (July 18-25).

-Jesse

Day 4 and more breeze!

2010-07-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

day 4 racing in Bronze Fleet
12-17kt with BIG chop
Another great day of breeze practice.
Almost was not to be because the port main shroud popped out of the turnbuckle heading out, but we saved it before it went bad. Good thing it happened as we were leaving the beach!

We had great starts, good upwind speed in the breeze, but suffered with some boat handling issues in the waves. It was especially hard off the wind, where the boat would jump off waves and then land in the next set of waves, leaving you at risk to pitch poles...As the afternoon wore on, we seemed to slowly figure out how to stay upright. It is a case of getting real low and back on the wings and being smart with your spinnaker and main trim. More practice for sure is needed! It is quite a sight though, to see your boat cartwheel away from you on the run! Yep, these boats are light and don't like it when their bow is stuffed in the water! In fact, on one of the pitchpoles in the 1st race, the kite loaded up so much that the halyard cover ripped at the cleat, exposing the spectra core - not fun for handling! That made for fun hoists and doses for the rest of the day!

At the end of the day, we also realized why we were not pointing and going fast when the breeze dropped out a bit. It was our jib leads, too far outboard and depowered for that choppy 12-15kts. We needed them in, with an eased sheet to give us some twist. we had the opposite, it is amazing we still got an 8th in that last race with that setting! It was so frustrating in the race, but at least we diagnosed it and can move forward. We were winning that last race after a great start at the pin!

Learning a ton. still 2 more days of racing.
yes we are tired and exhausted, but this is what it is all about!

-Zander

Day 3 and Kiel tent confessional after long day of racing

2010-07-07T09:56:00.001-07:00

Photo of our start, too bad the angle is not great, but it is clear we are punched on that windward boat and we were good on the boat to leeward as well. We were 2/3 of the way from the pin, front row heading to the 1st lefty! You can see carnage in the background...don't worry we had our fair sure at later junctures.

Euros here in Gdynia was full on breeze today! We had 15-25kts, blowing hard offshore, some of the most breeze we have ever sailed in. Not going to go into it too much because it is very similar to yesterday in terms of what we learned and what we need to work on. In the end it is about time in the boat in this much breeze and we know that and we are going to work on it.

Needless to see, we are physically spent and mentally trying to keep our chin up. It was hard for everyone today, let alone us, who have 2-3 days of sailing in breeze since Miami in January! We did have a great start in the first one, up with all the top guys, but lost our lane after a 30 degree header sent us into the water for a dip! oh well! The race wasn't lost yet, for we were still up there until some obnoxious Italians took room on us at a hairy leeward mark rounding and forced us to flip. Thanks guys, I hope it was worth it.

For your entertainment, I am going to post my audio recording after a windy day of racing at Kiel to let you know how I feel after one of these days. It is really takes alot out of both of us, especially when we start swimming! And you can only imagine hoisting a giant, wet spinnaker!

We live to fight another day...3 more days of racing in bronze fleet.

Europeans Day 2

2010-07-06T13:44:00.001-07:00

Gdynia showed her more Baltic face today, with a stormy, rain driven, 12-20kt breeze blowing right off the town. The direction made for big shifts, big blasts and relatively flat water: pretty much prime 49er sailing! For us, given our lack of breeze training, we always knew conditions like these would be challenging, but we were eager to head out and get practice with such world class competition.

To make the day even more difficult, the race committee decided to go for 4 races today because of the dubious long-term weather forecast, which made today our longest day of racing to date! We did 4 three lap races which each took roughly 40 mins each. Lets break that down from a boat handling perspective, that is: 12 spinnaker sets, 12 bear-aways, 8 douses (one of the hardest things to do in a 49er), roughly 48 gybes, and over 55 tacks. Great practice, but it takes a lot out of you, especially when you have not been doing these maneuvers much recently! We only flipped once during racing and that was in the last race in one of our final gybes in heavy traffic at the leeward gate.

Highlights from today:
- Had a couple of decent starts, our acceleration off the line is improving and we are moving closer to consistently getting off the line, full powered up.
- Hit a few shifts around boats. Its not rocket science out there, the top boats miss shifts and you can hang with them sometimes even if they are a little faster and more polished
- More comfortable getting low(powered up) and locked in the downwinds when breeze on
- All around great practice for us between going through the motions of tacks,gybes, roundings to tactics both up and downwind

Need to improve on:
-Tacks/Gybes in pressurized situations
-Laylines off the wind(this becomes very difficult when a 20kt puff hits after a initial 12kts and you have to fall off an extra 20 degrees and no longer lay the leeward mark. Add in some boats coming upwind and it gets a little hairy)
-Cutting losses (if we make a mistake, being able to recover and minimize the compounding of the loss).

Definitely an early night tonight, and with the forecast more of the same, we will need our rest. Hopefully we will be able to make some gains from our experiences today for tomorrows racing.

European Champs Day 1

2010-07-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Battle in Gdynia begins...

Day one of the European Championships was held in a steady, hot 4-9 knot "sea breeze” (I guess the Baltic is a Sea?). With all the organizers steadfast in providing an up-close visual of 49er racing to the city of Gydnia, our course(Alpha) was tucked right up next to the breakwater, this made the racing that much more tricky as a pretty serious chop was prevalent throughout the day. The other course, “Bravo” was a little further along the coast.

Now, onto the racing., the race committee split the 90 boat fleet in two, making for two large 45 boat fleets(the biggest fleet we have raced in to-date). In the first race, with the starting line bias towards the committee boat, we were battling near the boat, and with great positioning on the line with 25 seconds got swallowed by the pre-start muddle and had a poor start. After a predictably mediocre first beat, we were able to put together two good legs, playing laylines and some shifts leaving us in with a respectable race in the 30s.

Following our first race start, we were eager to put ourselves in a better position for the next race. And we did not disappoint! With the boat still favored, we managed to have our best start to-date. What an amazing feeling.! After 4 min off the line, we were still on starboard, holding our lane with a Danish, a German and the Italians (Siabello brothers). We fell from the top 5 to 10th near the windward mark as FRA4 slammed us perfectly leaving us to tack two more times to clear out lane. After a relatively uneventful downwind(maybe lost one boat), our second beat saw us round in a decent position and with a good breeze (comparatively), however, we missed a good chance on a lane and were forced too far left. Definitely frustrating, but we were able to minimize loss following our mistake and finished in the low 20s we believe.

In the final race of the day, with decent positioning about midway down the line, we were unable to hold our lane on starboard(Siabello Brothers are a little fast…), but we managed to find a good lane on port and get locked in. After coming back from the right on a good righty with a Canadian, we failed to recognize the priorities of “large fleet, Sea breeze style 49er sailing”, and crossed the middle too early. And to make matters a lot more worst, near the windward mark, on the port layline, a few boats who committed to gybe setting fouled us(maybe 3?), and completely stopped us in the water. We then just hit the windward market, and before we knew it, we were last. We managed to pick off a few boats, but were very disappointed to end on that note.

Consensus on the day: Having such a large fleet definitely changes the game from your average 20-25 boat fleet as there is much more chaos and clutter around the course. Oh, and what a battle starting is! With 45 boats each vying for a front row position, it becomes a serious fight to gain that nice spot on the line. And not surprising, we had three general recalls on the day. Our speed was pretty good, not great, but definitely in the ballpark. Tactically with such a large fleet, unless you’re in the top 5, finding a lane and maximizing your full speed look is essential to decent performances both upwind and downwind. The middle of the course is death (as we found out the hard way in the final race).

So after another long day in the heat and a sun that hardly ever sets we recuperate. Hoping tomorrow we get out of the gate in more than a race, and put together some tactically smart races(boat handling aside…)

Regardless we are excited to be able to be “racing” in a world class fleet and will look to continue putting all these lessons to work as the regatta unfolds.

Poland Training with video clip

2010-07-03T03:04:00.001-07:00

Update from Gdynia, Poland

We have been in Poland for the past 8 days training in advance of next week's European Championship. It has been generally hot with a light to moderate sea breeze developing each afternoon. We had a few days where we were in the foot-straps ripping downwind, but most of the training has been focused on keeping the boat steady in nasty chop. We have been sailing near a big sea wall, which has made for a tricky, confused wave state. The breeze has also been in the marginal double trapping territory, so it has put a huge premium on Jess and I working together to keep her balanced. Anyways after 6 sessions in these conditions, we are starting to feel more comfortable in it. Jesse and I feel our comfort level in the boat has just recently surpassed where we were in Miami in January.

We are also happy with our rig set up for these conditions, yesterday in practice races, we were holding our lane and having great winward mark roundings. This has been pretty rare for us to date, so this was a big deal. A small victory, but a good morale booster. We know this European fleet (90 boats) will be DEEP and we have tons to improve on, but we like where the trend is going...We just try and keep it one session at a time and try not to get too frustrated when our boat handling lets us down. Consistency in the boat haunts us from putting together a complete great race, but we are working towards one and we look forward to making it happen!

We had a good mini clinic with a top British Coach over the past few days and he was very encouraging and knowledgeable. His insights were helpful and his camera footage of us was cool (it is amazing how different it looks on camera).

Below is some video (we are just figuring out the camera and the editing process, it also shows how far we have to go...I swear we did some better tacks and gybes that were not on camera!) he took of us:

Racing begins on Monday and runs until Saturday. Our goal is to make silver fleet (top 2/3) and to have moments up at the front of the fleet. So in the qualifying races (33 boats per start), we are looking for consistent finishes in the teens. We want to keep on working on our starting acceleration and then escape in the front of the fleet with a nice lane! Forecast looks like more medium breeze, but it seems no one really knows what the breeze is going to do. We will keep our head of the boat as best we can and try to put together some great races.

-Zander

Final Day of Kiel

2010-06-24T01:18:00.000-07:00

The final day of Kiel again brought light and fickle winds and after a few hours of postponement we were able to get off two races. When racing was all said and done we scored a 31 and a 24. It was definitely one of the more frustrating days racing as our boat handling coupled with a few critical tactical mistakes cost us big.

In the first race, with the pin clearly favored, we chose to start just to windward of the clutter and had a great start with good speed. Unfortunately, we misjudged a cross as we attempted to port tack the half of the fleet nearest to the boat and had to tack back to starboard where we still had an ok lane and were able to round the windward in the top 12- if only we had made the cross! With more time in the boat, we will be better at judging crosses and have quicker tacks, but nonetheless frustrating.Well, here comes the most trying part of the day. As we rounded the windward, the fleet was very, very condensed with many boats locking rails etc. To avoid all the commotion with other boats we decided for a quick gybe over onto port. What a mistake that was. The breeze shifted left in a PERSISTENT SHIFT and we got owned. To exacerbate the mistake, we chose to round the less crowded gate, but having it be so unflavored left us in poor shape. Verdict- though we had a great start, and good positioning on the fleet, a few critical mistakes can cost you ALOT.

Having tried to clear our heads after the first race, we decided on a very similar tactic of starting to the first race, though slightly closer to the pin. We again had a good positioning, but our acceleration wasn’t quite solid enough, and were unable to hold our lane. As we approached the windward in a largely left favored course, again the fleet was ridiculously condensed and we were unable to have a good tack onto the starboard layline. This set into motion an awfully painful rounding, and though we had a good final downwind, we were unable to feel satisfied on the day.

Knew it wasn’t going to be easy coming right to an event following our time off this spring, and Kiel didn’t disappoint! So, onto Poland for a couple weeks of training before the Europeans. Hopefully we can continue to shake off the rust of the last few months and start to feel more comfortable sailing the boat and with other boats around us.

Light Air on Day 2

2010-06-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

We all slept well last night after our 4 race battle in yesterday's cold, blustery breeze and awoke to hope that we would have more moderate conditions for today. However, the Baltic Sea would have none of it, as it fizzled out today and could only offer up the opposite end of the breeze spectrum - a dying northerly for us to race in off the Kiel Lighthouse. Both yellow and blue fleets were able to get 1 race off each before it became too light to race. Other fleets got no racing in. We were the second group, so we got the lighter, more painful conditions thanks to fading gradient as the low passed to our distant north east. It may have been the lightest conditions we have ever raced in for a complete race.

We started down at the pin hoping for some pressure to come down around the point, which is off to the left of the course. It looked like 2-4kts pretty uniform across the course, so we thought the key to the race would be a lane off the lane going fast. After a slow acceleration at the start, we were forced to crack off and reach down below the boats that won the pin to find some clear air. Soon after though, we found some speed and were looking good on the fleet. WE SHOULD HAVE TACKED, but we kept going and over-leveraged ourselves to the left side (thinking that the breeze would remain steady). It was a tough call at the time, but a no-brainer in hindsight (CROSS WHEN YOU CAN!). Instead we kept going into an unforeseen hole and lost the majority of the fleet. We rounded the windward mark in last!

Knowing the type of racing in the boat, we kept fighting and hit some hit some shifts on the run and got right back into the middle of the fleet. We had a great upwind, where we stayed in a vein of breeze and sailed around numerous boats. We could have been higher if we had not lost our lane on the starboard layline to a Swedish boat who seemed to pinch for no other reason than to sail extra distance and screw us up - to each their own and we will avoid that barney from now on. Our run was solid (net even), losing boats and then catching others thanks to some solid speed and tactics around the finish line. It is amazing how much is always up for grabs in these races, you can never give up!

We ended up 17th in the race, were probably around 14th for a bit, but we were also last in the beginning, so a solid race for us in theses early days of the Euro-campaign. We are now in 44th and hope to continue to move up the standings as we reacquaint ourselves into the boat.

Hopefully the breeze is raceable over the next few days! Forecast is calling for a light northerly for the next few days, hopefully stronger than today!

Boat handling wise in these conditions need to focus on:
-starting acceleration
-smooth gybes
-avoiding taking coachboat chop over the bow (Zander needs to move fore-aft faster)

tactically:
-Cross when you can

-Zander

KIel Day 1

2010-06-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of Kiel is in the bag! In classic Kiel fashion, the regatta kicked off with a shifty and puffy 12-20knots with higher gusts with temperatures in the 50s. With the fleet split into two divisions with 27 boats in each, the Race Committee decided to break the day in two with each fleet racing two, then coming ashore while the other group raced, then racing two more. This made the day that much longer as we had to manage to stay warm in the down time between our set of races.

After a long day in difficult and blustery conditions we are sitting in 45th place out of 58 with a few boats unable to finish or sustained a breakdown(23-20-22-19). We are happy with our performance on the day considering our lack of practice recently(4 month break plus the 4 days before the event were 3-7knots), specifically our ability to keep our mast dry for all but one time in the first race! Our downwinds were pretty hairy but we managed to control the chaos and pulled off some good gybes while also keeping the boat upright when we fumbled from wing to wing. Our speed upwind was quite good relative to other boats in the fleet but there is still room to improve in the consistency and changing modes with varying conditions.

Our little hiatus due to Jesse finishing school was most visibly seen in the starting- with conditions as they were, and a super pin favored line, good boat handling=good start. Though we did see improvement through the day and managed to have a lane in the final race, our starting was something to be desired. This, however, did not faze us as we are not well rehearsed in our windy,shifty starting routine and our larger sailing around the course gave us much optimism on the day.

Off to bed, and with a lighter forecast in store for us tomorrow, we hope we can put together some moments and hopefully get a couple good scores!

Video clip of the racing: http://www.world-of-sailing.info/index.php?id=184

Jesse

Getting back into the Swing of things in Kiel

2010-06-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

We have spent the past few days rigging our boat and getting back into 49er mode. It has been light to medium air and reasonably forgiving, but we know the real test will be when the breeze comes up. We are camping on a field near the beach with the boats, which is very convenient and fun to stay so close to the regatta.

We got our new main out today! Looks great!

Regatta starts on Saturday! Keep you posted.

I hope the campsite stays dry!

-Zander

Vamos to Deutschland!

2010-06-12T08:51:00.001-07:00

After a few hours of organizing and fastening we got 'Sled' onto our Renault and are ready to get on the road late this evening bound for Kiel, Germany. 'Sled' has been graciously taken care of by Alex Bishop and his family in Bormes La Mimosa (near Toulon, France) this past spring. We are deeply indebted to them for this huge help...Thanks guys! The views from his house are amazing and remind me of the St. Barbara area (except no Rincon here!).

Aurevoir!
Zander

Royal Gazette - June 9, 2010

2010-06-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

Kirkland brothers step up Olympic campaign

By Kyle Hunter

Olympic sailing hopefuls, Zander and Jesse Kirkland, leave Bermuda this week bound for Europe where they take their campaign up another notch to qualify for the 2012 London Games in the 49er class.

First stop is one of the biggest events on the world's sailing calendar, Kiel Week in Germany, where they will take on the best.

After that they will travel to the European 49er Championships in Poland.

The Kirkland brothers launched their Olympic campaign earlier this year when they competed at the World Championships and then sailed at the Miami Olympic Class Regatta.

But then they had to put their campaign on hold as younger brother Jesse had to finish his education at St. Mary's University in Maryland where he was one of the stars on the college's sailing team. In fact, he ended up being a four-time All American.

Zander was based in Newport Beach, California where he sailed and also coached younger sailors.

But now that Jesse's education is finished, the brothers will be going all out to qualify for the 2012 Olympics and have sought advice far and wide about bettering their chances.

And not only have they spoken to former Olympic sailors like Peter Bromby (Star class) and Alan Burland (Tornado class) but have also asked the advice of former Olympic triple jumper and former World Indoor Champion Brian Wellman.

"We want to get every edge we can and it was great talking to Brian," said Zander this week.

"We are always picking the brains of people like Peter Bromby and Alan Burland. And since I have been back in Bermuda I have been working out at the Olympic Club. (Owner) Scott Stallard has given us free membership whenever we are back in Bermuda and I bumped into Brian Wellman. He has been great talking to us especially about his philosophy of getting to that world class level. As he said 'you may be talented but so is everyone else in that fleet'. He has pointed out that there are things that make you stand out – the correct programme and coaching and work ethic. He has told us that we will have to work like a dog – we will really have to want it and those are the things than can make the difference.

"He was also talking about our work-out programme. He said that we have to think about every manoeuvre we do in the boat and we have to try and replicate that manoeuvre in the gym – isolate the different muscles we will be using."

The Kirklands have already sent over their 49er boat to Europe.

"We shipped it out after the Miami OCR and it is waiting for us at a friend's house in France which is a great help. He is a fellow 49er sailor and went to school with Jesse. He will be competing at the same events as us (Kiel Week and the European Championships) so we will all travel together."

The brothers will be leasing a car to get their boat around Europe and will be camping at the events.

"It is Important to save money. We are doing it on as tight a budget as we can but without compromising the mission. We have to have the equipment and we have to put the time in but wherever we can we are being frugal as possible. We have raised enough money to make this summer happen. Then we will do a new round of fund raising in the fall."

Now that their campaign is in full swing both brothers are excited.

"After competing in the Worlds and the Miami OCR earlier this year we had to put everything on hold for Jesse to finish college. It was something that had to be done and I am really proud of him – he was an All American for four years and not many people can say that. We have both bulked up in the gym and we are happy with our weight. We are stronger.

"Kiel Week will be tough. The fleet will probably be about 80 boats and it will be the deepest fleet we have ever sailed in. It is going to be tricky initially because we have not been in the 49er since the Miami OCR. Now we are going to see if we can start putting this together."

Kiel Week will be from June 19-23 and the Kirklands plan to get there a few days beforehand for training.

"After Kiel we travel for about 10 hours into Poland to Gdynia for the European Championships."

Those championships start on July 5 but the Kirklands hope to get there on June 25.

"The International 49er Association are graciously helping the developing and smaller nations by putting on a clinic so we will be doing that before the championships start."

After those championships Zander will stick around at Gdynia to help coach a young Laser sailor.

"I will stay in Poland because I have a private coaching gig with a California kid who I used to coach – he is doing the Laser Junior Championships which are at the same venue. I am going to help him get prepared and that will generate a little positive cash flow for the trip. Every little bit helps."

And while he is coaching the young Laser sailor, brother Jesse will drive the boat to Weymouth, England where the sailing events will be staged at the 2012 Olympics.

"He flies back to Bermuda on July 15 and I return on July 25. We will have a short break and then return to England and spend three weeks sailing out of the Olympic venue. We will be competing at the Olympic test event which is called Sail for Gold. That is from August 9-14."

After returning to Bermuda they will start another fund raising campaign for the fall.

"The biggest expense for the fall will be for coaching. The top coaches in the world cost $500 a day – they are not cheap but if you want the best you have to pay world class fees," said Zander.

"And obviously we will need money for new sails and equipment," he said.

One event they will be sad to miss will be the Comet Long Distance Race – a race they have won.

"Unfortunately we will be at Kiel when that is sailed. If we were not there in Germany we would definitely be trying to hook with Stevie (Dickinson) and Gladwin (Lambert) and all the guys. That race still goes down as one of the epic races I have ever been in."

And for those who want to follow the Kirklands on the European adventure they will be updating their blog.

Jesse Finishes up Successful College Sailing Career

2010-06-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

With Nationals over and St. Mary's one National Title richer, Jesse has wrapped up his college sailing days on a high note. Having been named an ICSA 2009-2010 All-American Co-Ed Skipper for the fourth year, Jesse cements himself among an elite group of college sailors who were All-American every year of their college career. This is a testament to the St. Marys program which he developed under and to Jesse's class as a top national talent. He helped St Mary's win 3 National Titles (2 Team Race and 1 Dinghy Title) and also qualified for 2 Singlehanded Nationals over the course of his tenure at the school.

Jesse is stoked to get back into international sailing, where he will be sailing in much more open water conditions and in a high-performance boat. However, the lessons and discipline learned sailing in tricky college venues against top competition will serve him well as he takes on the world's best in the 49er. It is the hope, once we have the highly strenuous boat-handling aspect of the 49er under grip, Jesse will able to rely on this very solid tactical foundation to battle the Brothers into the upper echelons of the class. In the end, it is all still sail boat racing and the skill sets learned in college sailing will be an incredible asset to get us to the medal race in London 2012!

Jesse wins Team Race College Nationals!

2010-05-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

Jesse bookended his collegiate sailing career with another Team Race Title in Madison, Wisconsin today. Jesse had previously won Team Race Nationals his freshmen year at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. St. Marys has now won this Championship 5 times and is a testament to the program's status as one of the perennial powerhouses in college sailing. Jesse and the St Mary's team have been working hard all year for this event and are excited that they executed on this lofty goal.

While aspects of team racing are not highly correlated to 49er sailing, many of the same principles remain: good coaching, staying calm under pressure, seamless teamwork, effective goal management, hard work, good boat handling, and managing the ups and downs of the championship. Winning championships is not easy to do and the more practice the better! Jesse has now won three collegiate national titles - 2 Team Race Titles (2007, 2010) and the Dinghy Championship (2009). This extremely successful collegiate career is a great foundation for international sailing as it has made Jesse tactically sharp, a confident starter and very knowledgeable in the rules department.

Jesse's last collegiate regatta starts tomorrow as St Marys sets out to defend its 2009 Dinghy Championship. He then returns to Bermuda on June 4th and we head out for our first summer in Europe of 49er training/racing on June 10th.

PRESS RELEASE:

ST. MARY'S COLLEGE WINS
2010 ICSA/APS TEAM RACE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP


Madison, Wisc. (May 31, 2010) - Over the three-day Memorial Day holiday
weekend, the top 14 schools in the nation - as determined by their
performance in one of the seven Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association
conferences to which they belong - were in America's Heartland racing for
the 2010 ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship title on Lake Mendota.
And for one team, St. Mary's College (St. Mary's, Md.), it was a reversal of
fortune from 2009 when the Seahawks lost this championship on a tie breaker,
to come back and win this year's contest on a tie break with the same team -
Boston College.  Proving that they are a powerhouse in this format of
sailing, the win marks the fifth time the Seahawks have clinched this unique
championship which pits each college's three-boat team against another's in
a round-robin series of matches. 

The competition starts with the 14 teams divided into two groups; the first
hurdle for the teams was finishing top four in their group.  In Group 1, St.
Mary's (6-0), Tufts (5-1), Yale (4-2) and College of Charleston (4-2) moved
on to the Gold Round.  Northwestern University (2-4), Texas A&M Galveston
(1-5) and the University of Hawaii (0-6) were out of contention for the
national title at the conclusion of that round.

>From Group 2, Boston College (6-0), Georgetown University (5-1), the U.S.
Naval Academy (4-2) and the University of Wisconsin (3-3) progressed to the
Gold Round, while Eckerd College (1-5), Stanford University (2-4) and the
University of Washington (0-6) were also out of contention. 

At the conclusion of the Gold Round, also known as the "elite eight," the
"final four" race to determine the champion.  The goal of the championship
is to have the top four teams meet each other three times, which also allows
for a tie break.  This year's event was a light air contest, and credit goes
to the Race Committee for giving the sailors every opportunity to get races
completed especially on the penultimate day of the championship (Sunday, May
30) when competitors were out sailing at 9:00 a.m. and finishing up about
8:00 p.m.

"When teams make the 'elite eight,' each team is capable of beating everyone
else," explained Adam Werblow, Head Varsity Sailing Coach at St. Mary's.
"There is no easy win.  Every team has worked damn hard to get here and
they've accomplished a lot by the time they get to the championship round.
That's what makes it fun.  There are simply no gimmes once you get into the
elite eight."

"What helped us is that we have a team who has worked together for a very
long time," said Werblow.  "This team has been perfecting the skills of team
racing and Bill Ward (Varsity Sailing Coach) has been exceptional on
coaching the details of how to team race well.  The level of consistency
that they've had is remarkable.  With the support of our alumni we set the
bar really high and we had a goal at the beginning of the year to win this
championship. "

On the water for St. Mary's were senior skipper Ted Hale (Annapolis, Md.)
with junior crew Francis Kupersmith  (Alexandria, Va.), junior skipper
Michael Menninger (Newport Harbor, Calif.) with senior crew Kelly Wilbur
(Ipswich, Mass.) and senior skipper Jesse Kirkland (Warwick, Bermuda) with
junior crew Madeline Jackson (Bainbridge Island, Wash.).   For the last race
of the championship, senior skipper Mike Kuschner (San Francisco, Calif.)
sailed with Kupersmith, and Hale sailed with Wilbur. 

"We have such a proud tradition and we are thrilled to be able to represent
the school and one another," summed up Werblow.  "There are 30 kids on our
team and 2,000 in the school.  The 10 kids sailing here are representing the
rest and feel really proud to regain the national title we covet so much."

Final standings for the final four:  St. Mary's 12-5, Boston College 12-5,
Georgetown 10-7 and Charleston 9-8.  Complete results are available at:
http://2010nationals.collegesailing.org/page/Team-Race-Results

Sled on her way to Europe!

2010-02-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

I am back in California and 'Sled' is on her way to Europe! We packed her up in early February and she should be in Barcelona in early March. I hope she will be fine on her journey! She is hanging in the container lashed down, between the boats of our friends from the States and Argentina. Check out the pictures of the pack job. She will live in the South of France, at our friend's house until we show up in early June for our exciting Euro-leg. We are in the midst of planning it all! Looking forward to it. Stay tuned...
-Zander

24th! Goal Met!

2010-01-30T15:55:00.000-08:00

Goal for Miami OCR, top 70%
We finished 24/36 = top 2/3!

Rationale behind our goal (written Fall 2009):
We will put emphasis on error-free boat-handling in a pressurized environment. We will be watching the top players in the fleet, with the hope of picking up skiff sailing subtleties. This event will enlighten us to the different style of tactics that are employed in skiff sailing. This will be a big, tough regatta because everyone will be in the region because of the World Championship held earlier in the month in nearby Bahamas.

We are stoked to have achieved our goal and happy it was a realistic one. This past month of sailing has gone by fast and we are excited about getting into the class. It will be a lot of work, and it will not come easy, but we think it is realistic to slowly work our way in to the upper echelon of the class. It was refreshing in this event to finally be racing and not just competing against the boat! Yes, that was partly due to the fact that it was moderate air regatta, but we were starting to feel more and more comfortable in the boat.

Now we take a hiatus until Kiele Week - June 2010 - (Jesse back to finish up at St MAry's and myself back to California to coach) and then back on the campaign trial to get cranked up for our first mission in Europe this summer. I will be working on my fitness level all spring to get it ready for the top level Euro leg - lots of upper body work and cardio.

We are hoping to get "Sled" to Europe soon, so we will have her over there for our Euro-legs.

Kirkland Brothers checking out from the Bahamas/Florida 2010.
Thanks for your support and interest!

Finally we would like to thank the Florida Kirklands for their wonderful hospitality this past month! We have stayed in both Bob & Sharon's house in West Palm Beach and Whitney's house in Miami Shores. We are truly blessed to have such great family and to have their support is Huge! THANK YOU!

Day 4 OCR

2010-01-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

Day 4 of the event brought similar conditions to the previous day with a shifty NE breeze off Biscayne Island. In the first race, with the Black flag hoisted, we were able to find an opening near the pin and have great start. With a clear lane and room, we were able to tack over and put the bow down on port. Before we knew it, we were racing against only a few other boats and despite a mishap during our tack onto the starboard layline, we rounded the windward in 4th! Unfortunately our downwind tactics struggled as we gybe setted to get into the righty from the upwind beat. But with the wind shadow from the behind boats, we lost ground and with the calibre of the fleet, we fell back to 12th by the leeward. Misf0rtune struck us again on the second upwind as we hit a clump of seaweed which saw us fall back, and with little luck passing boats on the final downwind we finished 21st.

Disappointed by the previous race we were fired up and ready to go for next race. With the breeze filling in from the right, we decided to start near the boat. We had a decent start and had the ability to tack off and put the bow down towards the approaching pressure line. After locking into the pressure with the French and Finns, we were able to cross the fleet and play a few shifts near the top. We again rounded in 4th, but poised not to let boats pass us on the downwind we were able to hold our ground somewhat and round 6th. Unfortunately, our leeward mark rounding was not ideal leaving us unable to tack off to the favored side of the course which ultimately led to us losing a few boats. Once again, we were unable to have a good downwind leg leaving us losing a couple boats but we finished 15th. Though our best finish yet in the regatta, it is frustrating considering our position at the leeward mark. If anything, these first two races prove how unforgiving the top of the fleet is, and how the slightest mistake can leave you losing boats all around you.

In the third race we were able to work our way into a nice hole right at the boat, however, we had a communication/timing error in the final seconds leading up to the start. The final seconds leading up to the start are obviously incredibly important, but also incredibly difficult as the teamwork required to get the boat up to speed is a delicate task. We have improved significantly at this since our infant days in the Bahamas, but increased time in the boat will allow us to master this. So, following our poor start, we were unable to find a clear lane upwind and found ourselves battling it out with the bottom half. Not only in the first two races, but also in the third race, we had difficulty playing the pressure/shifts which left us unable to make gains off the wind. We ended up finishing 28th.

On the whole, we felt pretty frustrated with todays sailing after having two top 5s turn into a 15 and 21. Though these results are fairly good for us, having "tasted the fruits" of the top of the fleet, we felt quite disappointed with being unable to finish the races how we wanted. If anything, we've seen the sheer quality of the top of the fleet and the consistency required on every rounding, every gybe, every tack etc. throughout the race. Another disappointment of the day was found in our downwinds where we failed to find any sort of rhythm and ended up losing boats on most downwinds. Having said this, we are pleased that we are able to find the top end of the fleet with quality starts, and hopefully with more time in the boat (fine tuning boathandling and getting faster), we will be able to crank out some top finishes!

- Jesse

Day 3 of OCR

2010-01-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

Today was another very solid day in the Kirkland Brother's Camp, as the moderate offshore flow continued in Biscayne Bay. Yes, we had some glaring mistakes which cost us at times, but we also had our fair share of great moments which have really helped our morale and confidence. We had great speed off the wind and did a good job hitting shifts and breeze lines up all around the course. Finally we feel like we are competing and we are slowly inching our way towards the front of the fleet. These puffy, flat water conditions suit us well; it is very similar to our college sailing background and growing up sailing in Bermuda. It is also easier to sail the skiff without waves (easier to run around the boat) and puts less emphasis on boat handling while racing, thus helpful for our relatively low level of time in the boat!

Race 1
We had a poor start under the black flag, after not finding a hole in the pre-start and found ourselves in the very bottom of the fleet off the line. We stayed positive and passed boats on every leg of the race; we did a great job staying in the pressure and staying in phase with the oscillating breeze. It is amazing how many passing lanes open up in these boats off the wind; they go so fast with the kite up and often staying out of traffic is the name of the game. Both us feel, this may have been our best race yet performance-wise because we were on top of it for all 6 legs. It just felt so good sailing around guys the whole race: Something we are not that used to in this boat!

Race 2
We slightly miss timed - we are still ironing out our time/distance in the boat, but every day it is getting better - our pin end start and found ourselves hung out on the left side of the course as the wind went right. We struggled to get back in the zone over the course of the race and found ourselves finishing close to where we rounded the first weather mark. It was a frustrating race and it left us hungry to finish the day out strong.

Race 3 "Oh de pain!"
With a slight pin favor, but a right favored beat, we agreed upon starting at the boat and working the right side (we could see the breeze out there and the forecast had it slowly clocking there all day). We did a great job controlling the boat downspeed at the boat and found ourselves leading the charge to the right side off the line. A few minutes off the line, we had the majority of the fleet on port tack aiming at our stern. We were out with the Finnish team (they ended up 4th in the race) looking great and stoked on our position. This is where the wheels feel off for a bit! At some point before we tacked onto starboard to cross the fleet, we unknowingly ran over 15ft of floating rope! We felt super slow and watched our top 5 position slip out of our reach. I looked down at the centerboard and saw that we were dragging something, it was incredibly disheartening to see it and feel it! We couldn't deal with it on the upwind and just tried to minimize the loss. On the run, as the boat accelerated, part of the rope slipped off the centerboard and came onto the rudder, thus enabling Jesse to go down and grab the problem rope. I drove and trimmed the kite for a bit, as Jesse went down to the transom and untangled our little friend. Instantly after we departed with the rope, the boat lurched jumped forward and we went on to pass boats on every leg to earn our personal best, 16th place. We were stoked to overcome the adversity and regain our focus, but at the same time it was tough to relinquish our great positioning on the first beat. We are slowly chipping away at putting together all the elements needed to put a great race together! But please remember nothing comes easy in this boat and we are doing our best!

To give you an idea how much energy we are using in these three 45 minute races, I am going to break down how much food I have eaten today. Crewing in these boats is no joke, with you constantly battling against the biggest sail (main on the upwind, kite on the downwind). I basically had 4 meals over the course of the day with snacks mixed in.

Breakfast:
coffee
2 large bowls of cereal
lots of water

On the water:
granola bar
gatorade
lots of water

after race meal:
turkey bagel sandwich
orange

5pm meal at home:
english muffin turkey sandwich
chips
lots of water

Dinner:
2 full plates of Chicken pasta stir fry
banana

And after writing this blog, I think I am going to have a bowl of cereal for a night cap.

-Zander

Day 2 of OCR

2010-01-26T17:04:00.000-08:00

The second day of racing brought a brisk breeze(for Florida) and sunny skies to the Bay after the passing of a cold front late yesterday. The Race Committee tucked the race course right up under the Biscayne Bridge which made for a very puffy/shifty course with the 8-12 knot Northerly. We managed to complete three races, with the wind shifting to the NNE towards the end of the day.

In the first race, after jostling with the Fins and the top French boat we were able to win the pin! Such a great feeling. After holding our lane off the line, we were able to get in phase and hold our own with the top boats(GBR). We rounded the top mark in 4th, and near to the leeward mark, Jesse's fell backwards during the final gybe. After a few seconds of barely hanging on to the most back part of the wing/traveler bar, he was able to finagle his way back in the boat. The near-catastrophe was thankfully avoided leaving us only losing 5 boats on the mishap. We ended up finished 17th in the race, but with high spirits after some great moments. The one downside was our rig being too tight resulting in us being noticeably slower than the other top boats.

After a general recall start, and with the Black flag up, we were able to successfully fight it out at the boat and come out with another fantastic start! Unfortunately, after our great positioning off the line, we found ourselves a little too right(big lefty), and rounded the windward in 25th. But after some good downwinds and a good second upwind, we finished up 18th.

In the final race of the day, with the wind shifting right, we again found ourselves battling it out at the boat. We had another good start, and as we attempted to tack and lead the fleet to the right, we fumbled a tack ( As Jesse crossed the boat and attempted to hook in to his trap, his line was uncleated leaving him bound for the water). Once recovered, we had lost our lane to the right, and had to instead head left(unfavored side). After some tricky sailing as the breeze got more and more shifty, we finished 28th.

On the whole, probably our best sailing day to date!!
-We had three good starts( two we were top 5 off the line with a good lane).
-Rounded the top mark in 4th(right behind FIN, right ahead of GBR)
-We had really good downwind legs with net change over the course of the day +10.

-Jesse

Miami OCR Day 1

2010-01-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

Day 1
Follow results all week at:
http://www.ussailing.org/Rolex/2010/49er/49er.html

Well the first day of Miami OCR is in the books and we had another action filled breezy race day. The breeze was out of the SSW between 12-18kts (perhaps some higher gusts at times), with all the racing taking place in the shadow of an ominous sky, as another mid-winter cold front prepared to sweep through Biscayne Bay. The weather was so suspect, that the majority of the Olympic Classes (only the Laser/Radials and us managed to start their event today) were postponed to shore; how fitting that the most powered up class got their scheduled 3 races off!

Race 1: We had a solid start at the favored end (near the pin), battling it out with the Kiwi and top French team, but ran into trouble shortly after the gun because we had trouble getting into upwind speed mode - this is something we are working on and something we are slowly improving on. Having said that, we were still in good shape after we tacked out because of the favorable current and smaller chop on the left side. We rounded the winward mark in solid shape upper teens (in a 37 boat fleet) and bombed down the run, only to flip on the gybe. We ran into trouble on the gybe because Zander failed to over sheet the spinnaker and we ate it soon after. It was extremely frustrating to watch all the competitors who were behind us zoom by on the run. Bottom line, Zander has to focus on getting that kite under control before the gybe and then run over into the new wire, without hesitating.

Race 2: Not as good a start as the first race, but still solid. The whole race was very similar to the first one, except that we didn't flip and ended up with a respectable 22nd. We beat some good Danes and Americans. We were fired up and looking forward to the third race of the day.

Race 3: We looked good right up to the start and then botched our acceleration because of mistimed harness clip ins and main trim - Need more practice, but getting closer! We got back in the groove 1/3 of the way up the beat and were in the mid 20s, when our jib sheet blocks ripped out of spinnaker launcher and our race was done...Bummer. Something you don't think of breaking of on a new boat, but now we know to re-thread all important blocks every where on the boat. The boat builder did a good job with the hull, but we can't trust how he fastened everything. Lesson Learned! This same thing happened to the Americans at the last Olympics in the medal race and it arguably cost him a medal.

We are slowly getting more comfortable sailing the boat harder on the runs in breeze and are getting lower on the wire than before. Baby steps! On the upwinds, we have noticed that the top sailors don't as aggressively trim the mainsheet as me. I hope this feel will come with time because our boat is not as stable as it could be and it will also help me conserve some energy, so I can have some energy to manage the kite on the run! I also need to get fitter to make it through the whole race without compromising the boat's performance.

-Zander

North Americans Recap

2010-01-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

Great Practice Event
The last day of NA's saw the Race Committee fit in 4 races (with only 3 counting because one was abandoned at the end because of a wind shift) before the 2pm deadline. The conditions were extremely difficult with the breeze ranging from 4-12knots and shifting all over the place (WNW to NNW). It was a great day of practice for us between the tedious light air boat handling/shifting gears for the pressure and the actual racing. With all the sailing we did yesterday, we had numerous firsts:

first 360 for fouling the Japanese (we were stoked to be near them, they were 8th at 2008 Olympics)
first gybe set(successful) into a nice righty, where we passed a few boats.
first start where we were full speed at go and both trapping on the line(permitted us to hold our lane)
first race day without capsizing!

These 'firsts' may seem modest, but in these boats, you take anything you can get and run to the bank!

In looking back on the races, we had some great moments, but inconsistency and some bad luck plagued our overall results. For example, after a mediocre start in the 1st race, we were able to fight back to mid fleet by the windward mark, and by the second windward we were in 7th. However, the second last downwind was our demise. First, our spinnaker touched the jib/forestay of the Japanese as we attempted to roll them during the hoist - Zander will try in the future to not put the kite up in competitors' faces! Slightly fazed, we contained the loss to only a couple boats, but were again bombarded with bad luck at the leeward mark as our spin halyard got tangled in the mainsheet preventing us from dousing the kite for a couple minutes (essentially ending our race). We will try in the future to ensure that everything is in order before drop the kite, but as always in this boat, easier said than done.

In the race that was abandoned, there was confusion among the fleet as to where the windward mark was because of the shifty breeze and R/C error (they put our inner loop winward mark to the left of the 470's outer loop winward mark!). We were one of the leading boats on the right (and in more pressure than the guys on the left) and were looking top 5, but soon realized we were screwed when we saw the guys from the left rounding the other mark that was out of position. We grounded back in the great sailing skiff breeze (8-12kts) and finished close to the middle of the pack, only to find that the race was all for naught. We didn't mind at all, it was great practice and proved every now and then we can defy the 49er "boat-time caste system" equilibrium (think the Matrix) and jump up for a gander of clear lanes and boats to our rear - only just enough to tease us and keep us working hard towards the top of the class, before we are unpleasantly reminded of our novice experience in the boat and slapped back in the fleet. But in all seriousness, the journey is a blast, the learning real, and the people fun and it makes eating all this humble pie pretty tasty!

Results can be found at: http://www.mycyouthsailing.org/calendar.php
look under:

01/15/10

The 470 North American and The 49er North American Championship
Miami Yacht Club

North Americans Update

2010-01-17T18:07:00.000-08:00

North Americans, Miami Florida
Racing went underway yesterday in a solid 15-18kts with gusts in the low 20s in the 2nd race. The Biscayne Bay chop was sharp and steep in the southeasterly breeze and made for very challenging 9er sailing. The tacks and gybes are way harder in the waves because it bounces as you run 'cross de boat from wing to wing. Overall we were pretty pumped with our performance. We managed to finish 2 of 3 races (numerous people went in early because the building breeze and breakdowns) and had moments with some of the seasoned guys. It was also a little comforting seeing the top guys having their fair share of trouble with the breeze/chop combo. I guess with these boats, no matter how much experience you have, it is always going to be tough and you need to stay on your toes! After day 1 we were in 10th place out of 22 boats.

We landed a few gybes in the big breeze and had some near pitch-poles with our feet in the straps. All and all it was an awesome day of practice and was tons of fun. Our freestyle move of the day was waiting between races, dodging 470's and board sailors, when Jesse started "Supermaning" 15ft out to winward from the wing. It all started because we heeled to windward broad reaching and Jesse got swept off the wing and started getting dragged with only his harness keeping him attached to the boat. It was kind of like trolling at high speed! When I realized what was happening I jumped to leeward and saved the death roll and then grabbed the tiller and headed the boat up. With the boat coming to windward, it leveled off and Jesse levitated back to the wing. Jesse stayed calm the whole time and knew as long as I saved the death roll, he would land back on the wing as soon as the boat returned to a more natural trim. It was an amazing sequence that would have been cool to see on video and my description does not do it justice.
-Zander

Day 2 at NA's
Today's racing brought a south-westerly of 8-14knots in some sizable chop. In the first race, with the Committee Boat favored, we managed to have a good start at the boat- though we still can improve on the final 5 secs to get the boat up to max speed. After some unfortunate luck (getting slammed by two boats and forced to tack an additional couple times), we ended up rounding the mark in 12, right behind the front pack. After rounding the leeward mark, I misjudged the trap and ended up breaking the tiller extension, forcing us to capsize.

The race had a disappointing ending, but there were definitely some highlights for most of the first beat when we were battling with the top 6. To single out a specific instance, we had equal speed with the NZL team(finished 15th at Worlds and winning NA's) for a long port tack. At the conclusion of the race, some ominous clouds rolled into the Biscayne Bay forcing the 49er fleet to head back to shore for the day. Tomorrows forecast is for 8-12knots, and we are hoping to put together some good races to end the regatta.

-JESSE

links to results:
http://www.mycyouthsailing.org/calendar.php

Take on first event - Jesse

2010-01-13T08:17:00.000-08:00

After the completion of the Worlds, there are several different areas within skiff sailing which we were exposed to.

Positives
-Our straight line speed was quite good, however, sailing at such a shifty event did not see this emphasized.
-Our starting has improved much from our first start. We are beginning to catch on to the proper technique and manuevers required on the starting line. That said, we still need to fine tune the final 15seconds prior to the start, but we are getting close!
-We continually improved our tacks and gybes throughout the event.

Observations/comments on the racing
-Judging/managing the fleet
• Determining who is beating who is much different in the 49er due to their extreme angles both up and downwind.
• Can be potentially radical speed differences across the course. Implication- can lose or gain 100 yards in minutes.
-Approaching the leeward gate is an incredibly critical time as there are usually many boats all converging on the two marks. There is a lot of potential of gaining boats at this stage of the race since there are such great speed variances, and developing the proper technique/plan can permit us to capitalize on this. For example, being on either the starboard(obviously more powerful) or port layline in the final 100 yards to the gates enables you to have power heading into the mess at the leeward mark. More specifically, it allows you to have your spinnaker up longer, and avoid being swallowed in the middle of the course.
-Since the speed of these boats is so great, it is pertinent to develop game plans far in advance of situations. Whether it be planning convergences with other boats or planning which side you want to hit on the downwind, thinking well ahead is not only recommended, but required as your doing 12-15knots.
- Developing/improving our intuitive sense of balance within the boat no matter the breeze. In other words, in response to breeze changes knowing precisely how much body weight is needed, and where to place it. This is incredibly important, but naturally will be improved with time in the boat.